Number 51
by Talantur
Summary: What a strange world I've been born in. A world full of wonder and beauty, hatred and destruction, love and sorrow. A dying world full of life. A world where my kind is alien to the race that inhabits it. Human, these fragile beings call themselves. A world that is enwrapped in a war. A war in which my kind must fight each other, all for the sake of a madman and his Sekirei Plan.
1. Gate:Begin

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

To those drawn in by the cryptic summary, this story will have:

OC, OOC of some characters (the rest I pray I portrayed well), slight AU as the world is not quite what it is painted as in the manga/anime.

It will also have blood/gore, swearing, intimate contact(undetailed), Yuri.

It will not have: Yaoi. (It will also not have a Beta apparently T.T)

I write for myself and my muse. However, I am interested in hearing your opinions so, please, take a couple minutes of your time and review. Thank you.

Warning: My muse has something I like to call the Delirium Generator (Ru: Бредогенератор) and she occasionally brings it out. Why, just on chapter 32 I was quite surprised when she brought it out and I found out, much to my surprise, that...well...that would be spoilers, no?

Warning: This may be a bit too late, but do be careful when you click on the Reviews section of this story. Spoilers and the like are abound and such...

Note: Many apologies, I will work on fixing the general format, spelling and etc once I finish writing the story. Fear not, the aforementioned stuffs (ie: format and spelling) get better later on. And now, I'll stop with this wall of Intro-Text and let you, hopefully, enjoy the story.

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><p>Waking up was a slow and odd procedure. For the longest time, I just hanged there between the void and reality, unable to will myself to move to either side. My thoughts lazily swam around me, torn and shredded beyond any cognitive reasoning. And then, suddenly, it all changed. I found the strength within me to open my eyes and wake up.<p>

It was odd, to hang there in fluid which was shimmering with soft green light in a giant tube in absolute silence. Even weirder was the fact that I heard confused reasoning that liquid wasn't breathable and I should be drowning right now. Yet I wasn't…

Even stranger was the fact that I knew this, amongst other things. How did I know I was surrounded by fluid? How did I know that I need air to breathe? How did I know what air, fluid and liquid for that matter, were?

It was so strange, to have this knowledge but unable to understand where I got it from and how. It was…curious. Yes, that is the…emotion? Yes, emotion, I felt right now. Curiosity drove my thoughts faster and faster, freeing them from them slow, nigh-solidified state and finally, I moved.

I looked down on my body and strangely I was completely unsurprised to find that I had two arms and two legs. Yet, the presence of two small lumps on my chest sent a part of me into shock. My…sub consciousness? What a long word… It was in denial for some strange unknown reason.

I slowly moved my arm through the liquid and touched the right lump. My body responded to the touch and I mentally shrugged. These…breasts…were a part of my body so I couldn't understand why a part of my mind was panicking. I poked it again and stopped, still confused with the reaction. For some reason a part of me was so convinced I didn't have breasts that the undeniable physical proof of them sent it into shock.

After waiting for several moments, I continued to look around and feel my body. All of my parts, from my long legs to lithe but solid arms where in order. Finishing poking at my body, I felt an odd urge to check the space between my legs. Finding nothing but folds which felt extremely weird when I touched them, I found my sub consciousness knocked out again, this time for no reason whatsoever.

Shrugging mentally once more, I swam to the invisible border – glass, the knowledge came – behind which lay utter darkness that the fluid's light did absolutely nothing to. Bored of trying to see something in the pitch black darkness, I started playing with my long hair which floated around me like a gigantic spider web. Curious, I tried asking my sub consciousness what a spider was. After receiving a mental picture of a close-up shot of the creepy thing I decided that perhaps it would be for the best to not think of such things. I also tried figuring out the color of my hair and skin, but the poor light offered by the liquid only told me that my hair was a bit darker then my skin and that was all.

So, thankful that the random, weird treasure box of information was back with me, I spent what seemed like hours asking it every single question that came popped up in my mind. It was nice having something or someone that was like an eternally patient teacher to sate my curiosity. I almost likened it to a computer before deciding against it. Instead I decided to ask what it was, if it had a name. It took a long while, which I spent playing with my hair, before I got an answer. Archive was the name I got from my information treasure chest. It also identified self as 'he'. Rejoicing, I was struck by a thought which I instantly voiced out to Archive: What am I? Who am I?

When Archive told me that he has no answers for those two questions, only theories and suggestions, I was shocked. Somehow, over the past hours, I got the idea that Archive had the answers to everything and the fact that he said otherwise was jolting to say the least. As soon as I recovered, Archive suggested that based on my observations of poking, touching and seeing, I was a humanoid at least and a human at most.

Humanoids were apparently living creatures that were akin or alike to humans while humans were a chaotic true race. This apparently meant that humans could be the vilest monstrosity to ever plague the universe to polar opposite. The race interested me; it was fascinating how they were literally soft clay that could be molded into any imaginable and inconceivable form. I even started fantasizing about being a human myself before Archive distracted me with his answer to my second question. According to him, a name was something that had to fit me so that, in the future, by remembering my name I would remember who and what I am. A personality anchor of sorts.

As I started thinking about possible names, a bright flash of light blinded me. I cringed and covered my eyes with my hands, trying vainly to protect them. A murmur of voices and sounds shredded the eternal silence I was used to, confusing me even more. As the voices grew closer I forced myself to remove my hands away from my stinging eyes and open them, my curiosity demanding it.

Before my tube, five beings in white coats milled about, their inquisitive eyes on me. I, in turn, studied these…humans, as Archive suggested, and wondered what these particular humans were molded into. It was surprising to me that I couldn't understand them like I could understand Archive. In turn, Archive proposed that they were speaking some Asian language, most likely Japanese judging by the sounds while we spoke a bizarre mix of English, Russian and German. He suggested that because I unconsciously absorb information from him, I also absorbed the languages he knew which happened to be fluent English, passable Russian and broken German.

I was interrupted from watching a brief image lesson from Archive on English, Russian and German when the fluid level in my tube began to rapidly drop. Within seconds I was left on trembling legs which tried to calibrate themselves against the gravity's pull. I even had to lean on the glass to avoid falling down. That turned out to be a bad idea as the glass suddenly split into two and slid back into the two metal walls at my sides.

Thankfully, one of these…scientists as Archive once again helpfully offered, caught me. Judging from what little I learned from Archive on humans, this particular one was a female as my face happened to land right on her chest and I could feel her soft breasts slightly give way beneath my weight. Speaking of which, wouldn't this mean that I am also a female as I also had breasts? Much smaller, true, but I had them.

This gray-haired human tried to guide me to a chair with wheels attached, something Archive called a wheelchair in bland voice. I happened to agree with him, there was literally zero imagination used to make that word. I stopped and straightened up, my legs still unsteady but passable. From the few images Archive sent my way, I was definitely not a cripple or an ancient, dying human to sit on something like that. I would walk, lean perhaps, but walk nonetheless. I showed the humans this by walking past the chair, slowly and with use of the human female at my side as a crutch, but on my own.

The humans muttered between themselves but the gray-haired female at my side said something that shut them all up and smiled at me. One of the human males, judging by the lack of the parts that make a female, hurriedly took off his lab coat and wrapped it around me…as much as he could. It was strange, I thought as I looked down on them all. Perhaps I truly wasn't human as I towered over them all at least a head if not two. In fact, my body was just plain bigger compared to them; it was as if someone scaled everything about me to be bigger than them. Archive expressed a pity that there isn't a mirror, a device that can be used to see one's self he explained, around for me to see just what am I.

We walked, slowly, through what seemed like an endless corridor with closed doors occasionally passing us by. In fact, my room happened to be one of these nondescript doors. The corridor was made of some sort of metal with a recurring simple design of gentle curves trailing in all sort of random directions. These lines also provided soft blue light which by itself wasn't that impressive but through the sheer amount of these lines it managed to completely enlighten the corridor, banishing all shadow. Surprisingly, to Archive anyway, the metal floor was rather warm and somehow soft which made it rather nice to walk on.

The further we walked, the less I bent my back, leaning on the human female, and instead began to straighten up and walk on my own. Our pace began to pick up significantly after that and soon the human female by my side began to hold me back so I don't walk off without them. I had to focus on slowing down my pace which proved to be somewhat difficult due to my long strides. Thankfully, we finally reached our destination as the corridor ended in yet another door, this one colored differently from all other doors. While everything we passed so far was of darker palette, predominantly dark blues and blacks, this one was a bright blue. The woman, another name for a human female Archive explained, opened the door first, led me out and stopped, smiling gently at my stupor.

We were standing at the foot of a small rock cliff and before me was a rocky valley with a small town built in the center with a road stretching from us right through the town. Right across from me a red sun rose, portraying a magnificent image. The humans beside me smiled knowingly and waited for me to wake up from the illusion cast over me. Granted, it didn't take long before I had to blink and the dream was lost. I looked at the woman who was obviously the leader of this group, seeing how she established dominance and led the rest. She smiled at me and we walked down the well-made road to the town.

At closer glance, the town was…odd. It was made of three streets of exactly same single story houses with several bigger, more unique structures opposing them across the main road. It was also fairly empty. I thought there'd be more people, kind of like on the pictures Archive shown me which were full of life. Instead I saw a couple dozen people at most, most of them in strange clothing that tended to blend into the background if I took my eyes off of them. They walked in groups of four with devices on their backs Archive identified as rifles, a type of long distance weapons he explained. They glanced at us warily and most did a strange stance and gesture facing the leader woman. Archive explained this was a gesture of respect and acknowledgement. Judging by everything I've seen so far, this leader woman is a greatly respected person of her race.

We turned at first intersection and made our way down the street before stopping at house on our left just off the middle of the street. The leader woman knocked on the door which opened practically instantly to reveal a middle aged woman in simple shirt and pants. Her eyes however, were exactly the same as the…soldiers? Yes, soldiers we've met so far. They've talked a bit and suddenly, I found myself standing alone before the plain clothed woman as the leader woman and the scientists briskly walked away.

We both looked at each other, studying everything we could. She was, much like everyone else, a head shorter than me, with short hair the color of copper and bright blue eyes. From what I could see, her body type was practically identical to mine, even if scaled down. Deciding something for herself, the woman smiled and stood aside, opening room for me to walk in. I hesitantly smiled back and stepped in.


	2. Gate:Initiate

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

You might've noticed, or you may have not. I do not use the endings the Japanese attach to the names they speak.

The biggest reason (aside from laziness) is that the OC from whose first person this story plays out, doesn't care about them and considers them unimportant whether it was said to them or around them or they should've said it.

To blue-hart: Alas, the way the story is playing out already, I cannot follow most of the guidelines you've setup in your challenge. It is an interesting one though, and perhaps I'll do something with Chiho...I rather like her character.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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><p>Elizabeth Greene was the name of my curator. Baby-sitter, Archive called her. She cooked, cleaned and taught me how to look after myself as well as their language. It wasn't too hard, as I found Archive was an invaluable help in regard of learning everything new. I would look at a page or image, hear an explanation from Elizabeth, Archive would cross-reference that information with everything he knew and then present an explanation to me either in words or images. I learned everything extremely fast, constantly startling my curator.<p>

I still occasionally giggle when I remember her face when I greeted her in broken Japanese on the morning of my first day waking there. Although she taught me many things, she was rather tight lipped on any information about herself or the town and everything in it. She promised me I'll learn everything after some sort of initiation event but it was hard on both of us to contain my curiosity. It took a week for the 'egg heads' as she called the scientists to prepare everything for my initiation event. During said week I learned to control my apparent strength as the first little while I kept breaking or smashing things by accident. It was really funny to see Elizabeth's expression that one time I accidentally pulled too hard on the fridge door handle and took the whole door off. Thankfully, it was just my strength I needed to control, the rest – like speed and ultra-fast reflexes – came to me naturally, through Archive who was invaluable in getting me to measure out the exact amount of my natural skills required to do something. Well, I say exact, but it was more like enough not to damage anything I touch, which was the whole point of the 'adjusting' phase or so Elizabeth claimed.

"Ah, leader woman!" I called out to the gray-haired scientist who was barking out orders to scurrying scientists around her. "Nice to see you again."

"And you too, number 51." She smiled at me, pausing in mid order.

Both I and Archive found it strange how they called me a number, rather than a name. Everyone else had names. In fact, their names were two-part. Family name and personal name as Archive explained. The first for their clan or family while the latter for them alone. Yet I didn't have either. All I had was a number, 51.

"You're just on time; we are ready for you…" She turned and shouted at the nearest scientist sitting at a computer terminal. "Right!?"

"Y-yes ma'am." The poor man stuttered back.

"Good." She turned back to us. "51 come with me."

I followed her while Elizabeth smiled and stayed behind, and suddenly we were standing in front of a glass looking out onto what seemed like a small cement stadium, completely surrounded on all sides by monumental looking walls. At the center of the stadium sat a lone tube, exactly like the one I woke up in. The leader woman glared at a nearby scientist who flinched and hit something on the terminal and suddenly a door opened to the side of the glass. The woman walked down the small set of stairs and started out with a brisk speed across the stadium with me tailing her closely behind.

"So what is this initiation, leader woman?" I asked as we walked. "Elizabeth wouldn't tell me anything."

"First of," She turned her head to look at me. "You can call me Takami. Second, all you have to do is stand in that tube and we'll wake up your power. That is your initiation."

"A power?" I raised my left eyebrow slowly, a move I picked up from my curator. "So I truly am not human?"

"Oh? You've realized that already?" Takami actually paused to look at me. "When?"

"From the very start when I saw how small you all are." I answered somewhat truthfully.

"Pfft. Albeit your conclusion was correct, your premise is incorrect." Takami's lips bent into a thin smile. "You will find that there are humans of your height, just none here."

"I'd have thought your…'Archive' would've told you so." She said casually as we began walking again.

"He doesn't know everything." I hid a grimace as I answered. "Or maybe I didn't bother asking."

I told the curator about Archive on the third day when Elizabeth cornered me and demanded to know just how I was learning so fast. I didn't tell her everything just merely that he compiles all information I learn into a better format for me to learn. Somehow, Elizabeth became convinced that I had an actual Archive of information in my head and it took a while for us to deceive her.

"Listen." Takami said as we reached the tube. "It's a good thing you told us about this 'Archive' or you might've gotten a wrong designation and then who knows how badly your initiation could've gone with wrong setup."

"Designation?" I tilted my head a little to the right in confusion.

"I'll explain after the initiation." Takami replied, waving away my question as she typed something on the console attached to the tube causing it to crack open. "Climb in."

I looked at the tube dubiously before shrugging off the bath robe and slippers I wore at Elizabeth's insistence today and climbed in.

"Don't worry. You won't feel a thing." Takami smiled at me reassuringly before the tube rapidly filled up with familiar glowing green fluid and I felt my consciousness fade away.

I came to just as slowly as I fell asleep. I stretched with my body, my arms and legs becoming a single line before I decided to open my eyes. I blinked and then suddenly felt fully awake at the scene before me. I was standing where I should've been. Inside the test tube but the world around me felt so…grayed out. It was as if I suddenly began to see the world in grayscale rather than in color. Wait, no, that wasn't quite right. I could see bluish-white flame orbs slowly drift around sporadically, there weren't many of them but they were practically everywhere I turned my gaze to. What was weirder was that everything around me wasn't just grayscale. It was also hazy, as if I was looking at a really hot object that heated the air around it so much that it bent the light and distorted the image.

"Well…this is…strange?" I whispered to myself as my hand traveled straight through the glass surrounding the tube and back again. At Archive's suggestion, I took a step forth and walked straight through the glass. Strangely, my body was completely colored, just as I knew it. With my extremely pale skin and light blue hair. In fact…I did a double take. My hair was colored exactly the same shade and color as the flame orbs drifting about.

"51, can you hear me?" I flinched as a distorted and metallic sounding voice of Takami reached me. "Answer me."

"Yes, leader woman." I yelled back. "I can hear you!"

"Good." The same distorted metallic voice called back. "Now, focus on calling back your power. Focus on how you normally are."

I tried. I really did, but nothing happened. So I closed my eyes and told myself that when I open them, I'll be back in the real world. It was strange, but when I opened my eyes, I truly did return to the real world and color once again was back in everything. It was rather odd, but, it was exactly the return of color that made me breathe a sigh of relief. I was worried of being stuck in a world where the only colors were black, white and blue.

The first thing I noticed when I finally came back to the real world was how tired I was. It was a little weird how in the Gray World I was fine but the moment I crossed the line I lost all of my energy. It took everything I had left to keep standing on violently shaking legs.

"Well done, 51." I looked up to see Takami walk briskly to me. "If you continue impressing me, I just might give you the title of the most enduring Sekirei."

"Hi…Takami." I gasped out, still breathing hard in effort to continue standing while regaining my energy.

"Normally I'd just congratulate you with completing your initiation successfully and then give you a name but…" She shrugged and surveyed me carefully. "We have no idea just what your power is."

"So…what now?" I finally found the strength to stand up straight.

"Eat; recover and we shall do a series of test to figure out your power in the evening, 51."

I must admit, I myself was somewhat surprised when the results came in next morning. The evening prior was pure hell and by the end of it I just past out the moment I touched my bed, hardy or no. I must've crossed the border nigh dozen times with my power, each one leaving me gasping for breath and with weak knees.

After tossing on my favourite short sleeved shirt which went down to my hips and sport pants I walked to the kitchen and found Takami sitting there, drinking coffee with Elizabeth, to my wonder.

"Good morning, 51." Takami lifted her cup to me in acknowledgement. I noticed a change in her behaviour to me towards the end of the exams; she even told me that she expected me to pass out hours ago.

"Although…" She smiled tiredly at me, the bags under her eyes telling me just how much she slept from last night. "I should probably call you by your name now, Rei."

"Rei?" I repeated after her, the name coming out as a slow whisper. "My…name?"

"Yes, as in soul or spirit." Takami nodded calmly. "We figured out what your power does, Rei."

She waited until I sat down before leaning in and breaking the news.

"You can cross the border between the living and spiritual worlds at will." Takami stated, excitement shinning straight through her tiredness. "It's a pity I won't have the chance to study…this…wait."

She paused and sat thinking while I mentally congratulated Archive on being right. After thinking hard with all of the results at his disposal, he hypothesized what my power was half way through one of the final exams where I walked straight through a car.

"Yes…that will be a worthy excuse." Takami's voice brought me back. "Let's go Rei. We need to visit the armoury."


	3. Gate:Open

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"…this will increase the training you need to go under and thus will increase the time you stay here and not in Shito Teito." Takami explained as we walked to a large building with the highest concentration of patrolling soldiers.<p>

"Takami." I waited till she finished and then asked her. "You called me a Sekirei. What is that?"

That question has been bothering me for a while ever since I woke up today and had a chance to think about the previous day. Strangely, Archive fell silent at the question and only a couple minutes ago finally asked me to ask Takami.

"Hmm…" Takami slowed her stroll slightly. "You'll start learning the basics today but I guess I could tell you a bit now."

We walked in silence a bit more before Takami finally had something for me.

"A Sekirei is an inhuman race which we, humans, just recently found." She began lightheartedly, her face strictly on the building we were fast approaching. "From what we know, your purpose is to find your chosen…Ashikabi and ascend to heavens with him."

"Huh?" I asked, not understanding a bit of what she said. Unsurprisingly, Archive seemed almost disappointed with her answer too. In a sense she gave us an answer but at the same time it was completely useless as we didn't understand it. It would've been fine if I didn't understand it, Archive would've explained to me later but he didn't get it either.

"Don't worry; it'll make a lot more sense…soon." Takami's head twitched, almost as if she wanted to look at me and stopped instantly. "Come on, we are here now."

The non-descript low seated, gray building before us was heavily guarded with fence and towers with what looked like heavy…guns? Thanks, Archive, yes, guns which were manned by stoic faced soldiers who tracked our every movement. I even began to grow nervous as we walked straight through, the soldiers parting way before us and went down a short stairwell to end up before a heavily locked door.

"Oh hi, 'leader woman'." A young looking guy with some sort of a stick in his mouth that gave off foul smelling smoke grinned at less than amused Takami.

"Stuff it, Leroy." Takami really wasn't amused by the nickname that seemed to pop up from me. "We are here for some weapons."

"Really? And here I thought you came looking for cookies and milk." The blond dodged a smack with the tablet Takami carried with her and opened the gate with a cackle. "I'll be seeing you around, leader woman."

"You keep up with that nickname and I'll invite Karasuba over." Takami promised to the smirking guy.

"Right…haha…" We walked past the guy and Takami swung open the next door. "I do wonder how the Crow is doing."

I ignored his muttering as my eyes feasted on the stands upon stands of various weaponry. Half of them I couldn't recognise and some of them even baffled Archive.

"Walk around, see what calls to you." Takami gestured offhandedly before beginning to read up something on her tablet.

I must've walked amongst the various tools of killing and maiming humanity has developed over the millennia for hours, just drinking in the atmosphere. There was everything here except for firearms. It was a little odd, I found. Why would there be everything but the current weapons in use? Why would they have so many cold weapons of all eras and times but no guns? I gently slid my fingers across the flat of a rapier and decided I rather liked the feeling. Taking the weapon in hand I swung it a couple times and then put it back. Something didn't feel right. It was this feeling that drove me to continue looking. Eventually I ended up where I was now, in the long blades section. These weapons felt most right to me…yet not quite there.

"I see you found it huh?" Takami's voice broke me out of deep thought and I looked at the weapon currently in my arm. "A longsword? I must admit I expected something bigger, like a zweihander with your strength."

"No…it's still not right." I looked at it hard and then picked up a duplicate with my left and gave it a swing. "This is it."

"…That's going to be hard to learn." Takami said after a minute. "But, if you wish to dual wield longswords, who am I to stand in your way?"

The first night before falling asleep after an intense introduction lesson from Elizabeth, Archive attracted my attention. He said that in order for me to survive in the world I am going to be thrown into in half a month; I needed to understand humans more. He offered to show me their history, as much as he knew, through dreams. I, much to my later dismay, agreed. It was…an enlightening experience to say the least. I saw humans become great generals, great leaders and brilliant minds advanced their civilization. I also saw humans become insane serial killers, lose themselves in power and corruption, do genocide and commit atrocities that devastated human development for centuries.

Meanwhile, during the early morning a German swordmaster trained me to use my longswords without accidentally maiming myself within the first strike. We started off slow; he insisted I memorized all of the motions by heart slowly before we began picking up speed. Truthfully, I was humbled. Even during the final exam, my brute strength and speed which easily surpassed his multiple times over, I couldn't touch him. In fact, after a week of brutal training, after seeing me get put down time and time again, Archive suggested that I use plate armour.

His reasoning was that my superior strength and endurance can easily handle the extra weight, while the protection offered by the armour will allow me to ignore glancing hits which I had to block or dodge at the time and instead focus on offence. Takami let herself get convinced really fast, I saw how her eyes lit up after I gave her a design Archive made me draw. The end result was that on my 9th day of training I arrived to the training grounds to see Takami and Dietrich wait for me with a crate. I must admit, I looked damn nice in this cross mix of sci-fi and fantasy plate armour. It was tight fitting and offered full coverage of all my body save for the head which Dietrich and Archive both insisted should be open. According to them it was to allow me full sight as most of the fights are apparently going to be high-speed and losing sight of the opponent was an automatic death.

The armour, made of centimetre thick maraging steel, weighted almost 20 kilograms and was made of polished curves which should allow any blow to slide, lessening its impact. The armour itself was colored red with golden trim with a Sekirei symbol boldly displayed on the back and the same line design I saw in the hallway of the ship I awoke in on the front. I made a very impressive and intimidating figure according to Elizabeth, Takami and Dietrich; although the later one muttered that the day I'd have the skills with the swords to accompany that armour would be the day when I'd truly be intimidating. Aside from the actual plate armour, I would also put on a thin tracksuit underneath made of some synthetic material which not only redistributed any force I receive throughout the body, it also absorbed sweat and would keep my body cool in combat. I really liked it, once I put it on, I tended to forget it existed, it was so comfortable. The final piece that came with my armour was a red tabard with a golden trim which swung just a little higher than my knees. The material was also synthetic and Takami said it was rather hard to get it dirty as well as tear it so it provided a little extra armour down my body. The tabard also displayed a symbol: a blue flame locked in a circle on gray background on the front and the Sekirei symbol on the back. Over all, I was very pleased with my armour.

Although I had no helmet, I insisted on getting a half-mask which would cover my mouth and cheeks. After learning about winging and how it could be done by force, I was in no hurry to get enslaved by some scum. It was fascinating to learn that my power, as amazing as it was, was actually a small fragment available to me and the rest could only be unlocked by a process called Winging. By finding a compatible human, my power could increase exponentially. But, like all good things in this life, nothing came free it seemed. Although I'd get a significant power boost, I'd be eternally chained to the compatible human, the Ashikabi. At first I was determined to never get winged but Archive and Elizabeth managed to talk me out and I, upon learning that True Winging was truly a gift for both Sekirei and their Ashikabi, decided that I will seek my True Ashikabi or none at all.

With the arrival of my armour, after I got used to it of course, it became extremely hard for Dietrich to make me eat dust like he did before. I could completely ignore any glancing blows and my speed, with the tiny amount of skill I gained, was enough to manage to either avoid or parry any direct hits. In the end it always became a battle of attrition in which I always won. Even with nigh 20 kilograms worth of armour on me, I was strong and durable enough to keep fighting for hours. It was actually one of my drills, I'd stand there and practise my blows on a dummy while at the same time I had to dodge or parry rubber bullets occasionally fired at me from all sides. The first time it took me three hours, in full armour, getting the 10 hits necessary without getting hit directly once. By the end of it I fell right then and there but it was still 'damn impressive' according to Dietrich.

There was one thing that was bothering me, Dietrich and Elizabeth though. The armour and weapons I trusted my instincts to pick were…an odd choice in combination with my power. While in Spirit Realm, I couldn't touch any Living Realm object. This meant that my power was literally either terrible spying or excellent fleeing tool. It was literally useless in a fight. Especially in the terrible game I was being prepared to take part of.

I happened to agree with Takami's opinion on Minaka, the resident insane genius and also the owner of everything to do with Sekirei. If I had half a chance, I'd kill him on the spot. Unfortunately, that's where the 'genius' part of this maniac kicks in. If he dies, MBI will automatically collapse and the world will pounce on Sekirei like a frenzied, starved cat. They've tried before, but MBI protects the Sekirei from any covert operations and a direct approach has already cost the world three fleets and nearly hundred thousand soldiers. Upon learning that it was only five Sekirei who did the devastation, I was rather humbled. Also confused, how was I supposed to fight monsters like that? At that point, Dietrich just looked at me weirdly, and then glanced at the stone pillar three feet thick which I pulverized by accident and sighed.

After learning just what kind of legends I was expected to fight against, I and Archive doubled our training efforts. We even began training during the night, the fear for my life driving us on. It was during one of these nights on an empty training field that I finally got a use for my power in combat. The way my power seemed to work was that I'd gather my power like a winding a coil or spring against something. Eventually, I gathered enough power and the coil smashed through that something and suddenly, I was on the other side. What Archive proposed was that I'd concentrate that power and send it down my arms and swords and see what happens. The results were…surprising.

I stared at the line which appeared in thin air, glowing blue. It was as if I sliced open the fabric of air and it was hurriedly stitching itself back up, gone within half a second. I frowned and then slashed at a stone pillar, using the skill I just figured out. Then I looked at my unblemished blade and blinked. The last time I did that, I cracked the pillar into two and completely ruined my blade. A sudden movement drew my attention and found my eyebrows rising in surprise as I stared at the slowly sliding pillar. Within moments if finished and fell down with a thud, leaving the other side standing with a mirror surface where the cut was.

After showing the newly crafted skill to Takami, Elizabeth and Dietrich, we decided to name it Gate:Open. As Takami explained, I literally cut the line between the two Realms when I use it to open a gate. Due to its small size and instability, it collapses almost instantly, taking whatever is touching it to the other side. Whenever I use the power inside of me, it does the same thing, it takes whatever it touches to the other side and considering I fill myself up with it, it transports both me and whatever I wear. Archive then made me draw a complete circle using Gate:Open. I did it, but it took all of my energy though. The result was intriguing to say the least.

We all stared at the perfect circle just hanging there in midair. No matter how we looked at it, it was always a hollow circle, regardless of the position we looked at it from. Then Archive gave the idea that I should use Gate:Open on it.


	4. Gate:Sekirei

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Please tell me you can return us back, Rei." Takami said calmly after lighting a cigarette and taking a long draw.<p>

The three of us plus a good chunk of the training grounds were currently in the Spirit Realm, a thin blue bubble around us, cutting us off from the rest of the Spirit Realm. When I hit the circle with a Gate:Open, there was a brilliant flash and then the circle pulsed with a blue wave which rocketed out about fifty meters outwards and then closed back in, converging on origin. Upon hitting the origin, there was another flash and suddenly we found ourselves in the Spirit Realm. The whole process took about a second and all of my recently recovered strength. Overall, this new ability seemed to take more than one and a half of my current power reserve meaning it was useless in actual combat.

"Somehow…I am not impressed by the Other Side." Dietrich grumbled, standing near the edge of the haze, looking outwards on the grey world. "You MBI lot wouldn't happen to make an immortality pill yet, would you?"

"Nope, but after we get out of here, I am bumping it up in my priorities list," Takami took another long draw, looking at the blue flames of souls slowly drifting about. "Somewhere towards the top."

"Rei, can you get us out?" Elizabeth kneeled near me as I lay there, recovering.

"I'll…try." I said before reaching out and pulling myself up using Elizabeth.

"You might want to hurry up, the dome is thinning." Dietrich mentioned calmly. "Rapidly."

However, before I had a chance to so much as consult Archive, the dome vanished with a low sound that seemed to roll right through us.

"Umm…" Elizabeth looked around. "Not sure what this ability could possibly be used for."

"I am sure Rei will find a use for Gate:Swap." Takami took a final draw and tossed the cigarette butt on the ground. "At the very least, it's a very nice damage limiting mechanism."

"It kind of takes more energy to cast it then I have." I sighed.

The moment the dome collapsed, we were pulled right back into the Real World, instantly. It was as if we never left…except the time seemed to pass at same rate between the two worlds. Still, I have no idea how Gate:Swap could possibly be useful to me. Even if I do manage to use it, it will drain all of my energy leaving me helpless.

The last memorable thing that happened was the day before I was scheduled to leave. It was during that moment that I realized why the camp was so empty, aside from the soldiers and the research staff. I was on my way to the final exam with Dietrich when I saw Takami direct her research staff as they unloaded about a dozen girls, who looked to be in their late teens, in simple white coats from a bus onto the wheelchairs I saw back aboard the ship. Standing by Takami's side was another woman who was slightly taller with light brown hair, wearing an open robe of sorts that revealed much of her curvy body with a lab coat sitting on her shoulders. When she turned to face me I noticed she had a crimson Sekirei symbol on her forehead.

"Oh, what is this, leader woman?" I walked over and asked Takami.

"Hello, Rei." Takami spared me a glance before turning back to the tablet. "This is the newest Sekirei batch to wake up."

"Eh?" I stared in confusion at the girls. "So…tiny."

Takami laughed at my disappointed face and then went back to yelling-directing the researchers. The girls in turn stared at me with wonder, awe and a bit of fear. I couldn't blame them, really. When I came back to my house and took a look at myself in the mirror for the first time I was awed too, especially when Elizabeth decided to stand by my side with a slight grin. The comparison was truly devastating. It was as if she stood by a giant clad in red and gold armour with two swords at hips and a black, silk half-mask covering the mouth and cheeks. That being said, I think that was the first time I actually stopped and examined myself in a mirror. Before now, I somehow didn't either have the time or the interest to do so.

Unsurprisingly, I was unlike the majority of people on site, Takami included. What was surprising, however, was the degree of similarity between me and Elizabeth. We both had blue eyes, hers slightly brighter than mine though, and we both had pale skin, unlike the Asians – or so Elizabeth claimed. Apparently, humanity was split into several 'races' of sorts and we happened to be in the area where the 'Asian' race was dominant. The notion was quite stupid to me, why would humans fragment their own race like so? Regardless, Elizabeth and I had similar facial structure, eyes and skin. Unlike the copper hair the woman had, mine was light blue, the same color as the ghostly flames of souls. After getting my armour I cut my hair so that it would only extend to the edge of the armour rather than touch my butt like before. At least that was the plan, however – much to my dismay and Elizabeth's laughter – it turns out that my hair spikes, hard, unless long in which case it behaves.

Yes, well, it turns out that I am rather different from the rest of my kind as well. Or at least from the twelve who stared at me with open mouths, in awe. They all seemed much closer to the 'Asian' race, unlike me. Also, did I mention how tiny they were? Takami was taller than all of them and she herself didn't even come up to my shoulder. Perhaps it's me who's different from the rest…

"Don't worry, Rei." Takami waved aside my concerns. "You do look differently, compared to the majority of Sekirei but there's plenty of Sekirei with all sorts of phenotypes."

After consulting Archive and learning that that was just a fancy, 'scientific', word for look types, I sighed in relief and turned to the woman who stood calmly beside Takami. She surveyed me with calm eyes even as I stared at her. This was obviously an elder Sekirei but who?

"Ah, right." Takami turned to the side in order to face us both. "Akitsu, this is Rei, Rei – Akitsu."

"Number 51, Rei, nice to meet you." I offered the woman a hand. She stared at it and then slowly reached out and grabbed it, shaking it gently.

"Ah, I am former number 7, Akitsu." Her voice was as calm and gentle as her looks. "Nice to meet you."

I stared in surprise at Akitsu. To think that a single number stood beside me so casually, a being of such power…

"Why former?" I just had to ask, I didn't know there was a way to be a former Sekirei, how did this happen?

"Remember when I told you things go really bad if we don't know things about you?" Takami lit a cigarette and sighed. "This is one of these times."

"Lady Takami was kind enough to take me in after I became unable to be winged." Akitsu said with a calm tone, showing that she made peace with the fact.

"So…Takami is your Ashikabi?" I frowned, I didn't know Takami was an Ashikabi.

"No-"

"Yes." Takami interrupted her forcefully causing us both to look at her in surprise. "I may never give you wings, Akitsu but I'll be damned if I ever abandon you."

"L-lady T-takami…" Akitsu stuttered in shock, for the first time showing a facial change as her cheeks reddened slightly.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere, Rei?" Takami glanced at her watch even as she smiled at shocked Akitsu.

"Oh crap!" My eyes widened and I turned around. "Nice meeting your Akitsu!"

And then I sprinted off to Dietrich before I was too late. The man greeted me with an evil grin and said that he could finally cut loose and see if I was at least worthy of a warmup for him. The amount of times I sincerely thanked Archive for coming up with the idea of armour in the next fifteen minutes was probably in high double digits if not triple. In these fifteen minutes I finally realized just how much Dietrich was holding back when he taught me in the previous two weeks.

My strength was worthless, I couldn't land a single solid blow and the rest just slid down his blades. My speed amounted to nothing, he just knew where I was going to hit before I even began going through the motions. My stamina, armour and perception were the only things that prevented him from completely demolishing me. Every time I saw his swords approach me I had to move my swords to either block or parry his blades or at the very least dodge enough so that his blade only nicks my armour. At the same time I had to be simultaneously attacking with at least one sword of my own. Dietrich was very keen on making sure I knew that offence was the best defence and with my strength I could afford to do both at the same time.

The final thing that prevented this 'warm up' from finishing within the first several motions was my power. Dietrich was quite keen on breaking my swords every time we trained, making sure that I knew just how fragile my weapons were and ensuring that I knew not to recklessly put them into danger's way. To counter this, I – along with learning not to needlessly put my swords into harm's way – began passively using my power to accumulate some energy down the blade. Not only did this severely decrease the time needed to activate Gate:Open, it also strengthened the blades, making them far harder to damage – let alone shatter.

"Not a bad warmup, Rei." Dietrich smiled as he stood before me, his breath only lightly laboured. "You keep working on your stances and blade technique and perhaps eventually you'll stand on the same level of sword skill as the greatest of your kind."

"Like Karasuba?" I gasped out in surprise. Dietrich was of very high opinion about the Black Sekirei and even once mentioned that if he was to die by anyone's blade it would be hers.

"With enough time and effort, I do not see why not." He nodded. "I'd say a decade of continuous practise should get you high enough to not die within the first minute of a duel with her if she's serious."

I let my head drop in failure as Dietrich began to laugh at my plight.

"You are forgetting something Rei." Dietrich sat down beside me after sheathing his swords. "Unlike you, Karasuba's strength lies within her blade. In order to get to where she is now, she could be nothing but god tier with her nodachi."

"You on the other hand, are a Spirit Walker." He nodded sagely. "Your power lies not in the blades you wield but in Gates you open and close. If you were to fight Karasuba with nothing but your swords, you'll die. That's a certainty, regardless of how much skill you have with your blades."

"Thanks, Dietrich." I finally sat up after recovering my breath. "Your lessons are invaluable to me."

The grizzled man smiled and then began to show me the stances and blade motions for me to replicate and practise on my own in the future. He was quite keen on showing me as much as he could after every training session, taking advantage of knowing that Archive would integrate it into my mind. I even had to do several stances and blade motions I've never done till now before he was satisfied. He was even going to have me swear that I'd continue self-perfect my swordsmanship but I was rather indignant that he even had the idea that I'd stop in the first place.

I couldn't care less about this whole bullshit about ascending to the heavens with my Ashikabi and I just wanted to live. The trouble was, not only did the CEO of MBI, that crazed bastard Minaka Hiroto, had the power to force me to play this sick game, the rest of the Sekirei were not so fortunate to have Archive in their head. Or so Takami said anyway. This meant that they took Minaka's mindless drivel for truth. So, unless I wanted to live the rest of my life hiding in the Spirit Realm - a motion I shuddered at – I would be forced to participate in the Sekirei Plan. Considering I wanted to survive the experience which is designed to have a 99.9% mortality rate, I needed every skill, every advantage possible to be that final Sekirei.

Takami told me, with certainty in her voice, that the final Sekirei-Ashikabi pair will be able to get a wish – any wish. I wonder if I could alter reality with said wish… Go back in time to the point where Minaka and Takami just found the Space Ship and there was no MBI. Minaka may be a genius, but his madness far outweighs his genius. I am certain that Takami alone would be enough to create a new MBI, especially if the Pillar and I help her. A new MBI that serves the Sekirei and protects them not uses them to play sick games. That is my wish that I'd strive and kill for.

After finishing the training I staggered over to the Administration Center, Dietrich was quite insistent that he'd give me the most he could on the final day. I was only thankful for his determination as it was fitting quite nicely with my own. As I passed the guards at the inner doors who merely watched me warily, I sighed in relief to find Takami yelling at the scientists running around like headless chickens.

"Takami…got a minute?" I tapped her on the shoulder and ducked the tablet.

"Rei..." She paused before gesturing for me to follow. On the way she shook her head at Akitsu, telling her to continue her work who merely nodded in acceptance. We made it to her office where she dropped into a chair and gestured for me to do the same.

"Well?" She asked after I sat down while pulling out a cigarette.

"I…" I hesitated, this topic was overdue but it was only today that I finally realized just what I wanted to ask. "Why am I so…different? Why 51?"

"Hmm…" Takami took a deep pull on the cigarette. "You know, only about a tenth of all Sekirei ask this question."

She took another pull and fell silent for a minute while I waited, afraid to interrupt.

"When we found you…The ship had only 1 adult, 8 embryos and 99 fertilized eggs. Of course, we woke the adult up first, then, with her help, we took the first four embryos out of the stasis for a test run. The adult, with the first four came to be the First Disciplinary Squad."

As she took another draw, I stayed quieter than a mouse, so intent I was on this information she gave out.

"After realizing just how powerful they were, we – I, Takehito and Minaka – decided to power down the rest. We failed to do so with the rest of the embryos, nearly fatally so with 7 and 6." Takami lit another cigarette, the memories the topic brought up making her eyes haunted. "We have managed to figure it out with the fertilized eggs though, or maybe it was just easier because they were less developed, or perhaps both… Regardless, it's been a little over seventeen years since we took the first batch of dozen out of stasis and put them into the growth tubes after 'adjusting' their future power level."

"But…how are we to compete with the first ten?" I asked bewilderedly. I was supposed to be fighting legends, monsters of the highest caliber, and here they said that they cut down my power.

"To be honest, #1 decided against participating and even that idiot Minaka can't make her." A ghost of a smile graced Takami's lips. "As for the adjusting…we didn't handicap your power, merely your growth. The first group's power grew too quick and they've wrecked plenty before they managed to somewhat control it. We decided to take away that explosive growth. You'll still reach your full power…just not over a couple weeks like they did."

I opened my mouth to argue. Then I thought about it and closed it. If my power came to me instantly…I shuddered at the thought of plunging the whole island to the other side by accident.

"Okay, I guess I can live with that." I said slowly.

"Don't worry; getting their full power without effort played a foul trick on most of the first group in the end. They, for the most part, didn't bother training it, taking it further than what they had." Takami smiled condolingly. "Now, about your number…"

She took another pull, staring at me through the smoke she caused.

"We give Sekirei numbers based on the order they wake up in. There's a little bit more to it than that but you don't really need to know it." She finally said. "Albeit you were among the first to be adjusted and pulled out of stasis, you woke up months, if not years after your group. For a while we feared that we screwed up something when we adjusted you."

"And no, I don't know why." She leaned back in her chair and brought up her tablet. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask Rei?"

"I…no, thank you for your time, Takami." I stood up and bowed shortly in thanks.

"Don't worry about your age, Rei." Takami said as I reached for the door knob. "You Sekirei don't age past your prime. As far as we know, your lifespan is only reflective of your Ashikabi."

I paused and then quickly walked out of Takami's office. I had too much to think about and albeit the information Takami gave me was priceless, I needed a breather before she decides to dump more on my poor head.


	5. Gate:MBI

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"I guess this is it, huh Rei?" Takami took a long pull on her cigarette as she stood before me on a helicopter pad, the blades of said helicopter beginning to spin to life. "It was a short but very exciting month, wasn't it?"<p>

I nodded and smiled at the people who came out to see me off. Takami in her usual lab coat, armed with a notepad and a cigarette. Akitsu, standing slightly behind her right shoulder in an eternal vigil with that same lab coat draped over her shoulders; the gentle elder sister who woke up a protective instinct in me just by existing. Dietrich, who stood in his casual white clothes which clashed spectacularly with the two swords in black scabbards on his hips, the closest thing I've ever had to a caring father. Elizabeth, the hard, calm, no-nonsense woman who I just loved to mess with and who became something akin to a mother to me.

"I got a departing gift for you Rei." Elizabeth smiled gently as she picked up the bag by her feet and opened it up. "Try this on."

I reached out, taking the piece of cloth from her and unwrapped it to find it being a long, black trench coat, one that would go all the way to my knees. I arched an eyebrow in Elizabeth's own signature move.

"Almost all Sekirei are nondescript, able to blend in with the public." Elizabeth explained. "Although you will still stick out like a sore thumb, at least it won't be as bad as if you were to go out in just plain armour. Do make sure to take it off prior battle though, would you? I spent a lot of money on that coat."

I couldn't do anything but smile and hug the woman gently, touched by her gesture.

"Heh, if you liked that, you're going to love this." Dietrich smirked before pushing a small but long chest towards me with his foot. "It took a lot to make this but hell; I think it's worth it."

I crouched down and opened the chest carefully and then dropped on my butt in shock.

"Is this…"

"Yes." Takami said briskly. "Mr. Dietrich here was rather full of angst about releasing his poor student into the cold harsh world without a suitable weapon."

"Don't listen to that liar." Dietrich coughed in annoyance. "Anyhow, I don't know how Takami managed but these swords are made of the same material as that ship you Sekirei came from. For all I know these used to be part of some chair before they broke it and sharpened it."

"I'll have you know that these are not 'part of some chair'." Takami said irritably. "They are our first test in working with this metal and most likely last for a long time. It just took far too much effort to melt it and work with it. We had to use laboratory grade hot plasma for god's sake."

To be honest, I didn't pay attention to their argument much; I was just so busy staring at the two long swords lying on black silk in the case. Their size and general structure was exactly the same as the generic MBI longswords I've had in my scabbards at the moment so I wouldn't need new scabbards. Aside from that, they were made of the same dark, smoky blue as the rest of the ship but unlike the other places I saw this metal at, it wasn't soft and didn't have the glowing blue lines, it was just blank. Although, judging by the amount of effort they put in just to get this far, I think they just didn't have the finesse required for the fine detail. So, in the end, it was pretty much two non-descript swords, except I could feel they were anything but that.

"It was…nice seeing you, Rei." Akitsu slowly came closer as Takami and Dietrich argued. "I…wish you luck."

I merely smiled at the reserved Sekirei and hugged her, bringing a surprised gasp out of the icy creature. I loved doing this to her, she just seemed like someone who needed a hug, a comfort; her mere presence told me so. The fact that her reactions generally amused me was just the icing on the cake.

"I'll see you again, Akitsu."

It was hard to part from the people who became my family – or so Archive claims -, but I knew it had to be done. I had a game to win, my own race to exterminate and a fucked up present to undo. I couldn't do it just standing here, could I now. I had to keep moving forward, not even a glance back as it would slow me down. Oh, I needed to know my roots and my past to avoid repeating mistakes, but at the end of the day I had to continue onwards to my goal…my wish.

As the helicopter flew over the ocean, towards our destination in Japan, I stared outside, my head leaning on the thick glass, in deep thought. In actuality, I was currently picking apart my decision to use my wish to go back and fix this mess. It was a bit strange and sudden for me to adopt such a life plan out of nowhere. But now that I looked back, I think it's a bit difficult for my wish to be anything else. From the beginning, when I wished to be as free to be who I want to be like humans, to meeting Takami and our regular talks we had after test sessions. Now that I looked at them through a different prism, it was like Takami, Dietrich and Elizabeth were gently pushing me to become someone who they could rely on to bring the Sekirei Plan down given half a chance.

For an outsider, this wouldn't make sense. Why destroy the very thing you've built? From what I understand no one out of those I talked to were simple grunts there just to get paid. Takami Sahashi literally built MBI from scratch with Minaka. Dietrich Sweinog was a blademaster of the highest caliber who, according to some of the snippets he dropped here and there, trained the First Generation Disciplinary Squad. Elizabeth Greene, who tried so hard to cover up and act inconspicuous, was actually the leader of MBI Psych Department and an old friend of Takami as well as one of the founders of MBI. Even Akitsu who some might think as a mere add-on to Takami was genuinely her right hand and where Takami was the Head of the Sekirei Research & Development Department, Akitsu was her CRO – chief research officer.

It was rather easy to look up the information about three of them on the internet. Akitsu was a bit harder to find and the only thing I could find was her name and her position. Of course, nothing of importance was there but a few facts, a few observations and a lot of thinking from Archive yielded the current disposition. Several high ranking MBI officials were very unhappy with current direction of MBI that Minaka was gleefully steering the gigantic company in. And, to be quite honest, I agreed with them. It might be a bit underhanded of them to subtly direct my opinion so, but in the end, now that I know at least partially what's happening, I agree with them. Although I very much doubt that the path to the end result we both seek is the same one.

The question though was, why me? There were plenty Sekirei with far greater powers and abilities then mine. All I am is a Spirit Walker as Dietrich called me. What possible use could I be? Did they really pick me just because I was the only anomaly around? It would make sense to a degree; if a batch of Sekirei is anywhere near a dozen then there just would be enough time to spend with each one like they did with me. Each one of them, no matter how busy they were at the time, would lend at least several hours on a daily basis to spend it with me. To teach me, to guide me. How much time could they afford to give to a Sekirei that's just one out of a batch? An hour? Maybe two at most. The end result wouldn't be anything like me who they literally put their best into. It's…uncomfortable though. I feel like their hopes and dreams are on my shoulders and no matter how broad and big they are I am just a single Sekirei. A Sekirei that they hope can solve the problems of both races.

I'll try. I'll give it my best and beyond that. I could do no less, for them.

"Miss Rei?" I glanced up to see the pilot look back at me and shout. "Five minutes!"

I nodded to show that I understood and, for the first time since I set foot in this flying machine, finally looked outside. We were currently over what seemed like gigantic metal and glass teeth defiantly sneering at the blue sky above. Skyscrapers, Archive called them, what a fitting name. Far down below I could see a moving mass of black. Once I squinted I couldn't suppress a gasp. I thought Kamikura town didn't have a lot of people. Well, now that I could see a black river made up of thousands if not millions of people maybe it was for the best that I didn't wake up to this. I might've had a panic attack. And somewhere, in that black river of no end nor beginning was my Ashikabi. Maybe. Or maybe he was somewhere else in the world, now wouldn't that be a kicker.

Thankfully, I was spared any further shock of staring down on this snaking river when we approached the landing pad and instantly landed, the pilot showing master skills as we weren't even jilted. Climbing out, I noticed a receiving committee and was rather displeased by the composition of it. Granted, in my humble opinion, any welcome committee with Minaka in it was already bad. The white wearing clown stood there in an arrogant pose staring at me through his square glasses.

"So, this is the little bird I've heard so much from my dear Takami!" The man exclaimed as I walked over to them, the coat I wore around my shoulders concealing my armour and my swords partly. "Or perhaps not so little huh."

The gray haired woman with a gray haori over her shoulders who stood on his left leered at his mutter. The final person in this welcoming party was a very short, slim brown haired young woman who stood on Minaka's right. She also wore the same haori and the same black shirt and skirt as the other woman but her features were much softer and gentler.

"And you are Minaka." I said as I approached him, his smile getting dimmer as he realized that I had half a head's worth of advantage over him. "The so called White Clown, if Takami is to be believed."

"Yes, that's my dear Takami." The man laughed uproariously. "But, let's get down to business, shall we?"

He spun on his heel with his hands in the air and laughed.

"Welcome, new bird! To Shinto Teito, the city of Ashikabi!" He exclaimed. "Come, let us go down and talk more."

I nodded and followed the man, the two women who I believed to be Sekirei trailing behind us. It was difficult seeing this man who is responsible for the upcoming genocide of my race so close…yet so far. Killing him now will merely trigger the genocide, effective immediately and with absolutely no future for my kind. It was still tempting to just impale him right here and now. But I couldn't, not yet.

We went down a level and then turned to the right to eventually appear in what seemed like his office. A bit plain it was, just a desk, a chair, a clock, a ton of monitors on a wall and a panorama view of the city. Sitting down he spun on the chair once and then abruptly put his feet down and looked at me seriously, for once.

"Generally, I'd just give you a speech, your MBI ID card and then off you go into the brave new world to find your Ashikabi." He told me seriously. "However, I've seen the reports on your progress from Takami, Sweinog and Greene and I am very impressed. And so, I'll offer you something I don't offer to anyone."

He then reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a familiar looking gray haori.

"The Disciplinary Squad isn't quite what it used to be unfortunately." He continued over my shock. "And that's not good. I've already had a few attempted raids on Sekirei both in and out of Kamikura Island and although they haven't been successful thanks to Karasuba and Yume here, I have no doubt that they will continue to try."

He stood up and walked over to me, the haori offered to me in his right hand.

"Will you stand guard over the little birds?"

I stared at his hand, this random change of events literally crashing my world down. He wanted me to work for him to enforce the Sekirei Plan. On the other hand, according to Takami and Akitsu the Plan wasn't due for several years as the Sekirei just plain weren't ready. So until the actual Sekirei Plan comes into effect I would be doing exactly what Minaka offered: I'd be defending my fellow race from the greedy clutches of humanity. Not to mention I'd have a much higher chance of surviving the outside world if I were to stay with MBI rather than go out on my own.

"On one condition though." I finally looked up to stare into his eyes, or tried to anyway, his glasses had some sort of a weird shine to them that prevented me from actually seeing his eyes.

"Oh? What is it?" He grinned, amused at the idea that I might turn down his proposition.

"I'll pick my own Ashikabi." I said firmly. "I will not be put with some third rate loser."

"Deal." The man's grin widened to a seemingly unnatural width.


	6. Gate:Baptism

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"So, you are a little-big birdy who caught Minaka's eyes, hmm?"<p>

I glanced at Karasuba as we walked down the corridor several floors below Minaka's office. Somehow I thought the legendary sword wielder would be taller – and she was, compared to everyone I've seen so far – but she still only reached up to my chin. It was still a little shocking that just this morning I was in Kamikura, thinking that I had absolutely no idea what I'd do in Shinto Teito and yet here I am, in the Second Disciplinary Squad of all things. Somehow, I now understood that quote I've heard from Archive some time ago. 'If you want to make a god laugh, tell him of your plans.' How…fitting.

"I am as surprised as you that he did this." I answered calmly, still holding the haori with my hands. "By the way, the clothes you wear…are they a uniform?"

"And what if they are?" Karasuba leered at me.

"Then I might have a bit of a problem…"

"We'll sort it out, do not fear." Yume, the brown haired girl at the lead waved her right hand over her shoulder.

"Well, isn't this interesting." Karasuba grinned at me, her eyes nearly shut from the gesture, as the three of us stood in a training ground of sorts. It was quite astonishing just what these 'skyscrapers' could fit inside them. Yume wanted Karasuba to test my skills to see where I stood. My armour obviously impressed them and now they understood my problem with the uniform. I just wouldn't fit into it.

"Let's see how well it holds up to my blade." Karasuba slowly pulled her sword out, her grin stuck on her face.

"No destructive powers, I don't want the building to collapse on us." Yume told us, well, mostly to Karasuba. She just didn't seem to have faith in me doing anything to Karasuba. Truth to be told neither did I.

"Sorry, I don't have anything that'll cause that much damage." I apologized even as I took a stance with my swords pulled out and at the ready.

"Begin." Yume said and in an instant I was set upon by Karasuba.

It was a very short fight. I parried, blocked and tried attacking as fast as I could but, much like with Dietrich, it was only the fact that I had armour that prevented me from gaining about a dozen bleeding wounds in the first ten seconds of the fight. Karasuba on the other hand merely grinned as she dodged and parried all of my attacks with her nodachi. Generally, she'd have the advantage due to her slightly longer sword, but my longer arms and the longswords I wielded equalized our reach.

"Passable." Karasuba pulled back and suddenly her grin stretched even wider. "Let's see about this…"

"Karasu-" Yume frowned and began to warn her when several things happened at once.

Karasuba charged me with far faster speed then she had before and I slashed at her with Gate:Open to try and prevent my oncoming death. There was just no way I could block or dodge something like Karasuba when she stopped playing around. In an instant, I flew back, a groan fighting out from my lungs as Karasuba kicked me away. The woman in question on the other hand was currently looking at what was left of her sword. A mere foot from the 5 foot blade was all that was left while the rest lay on the ground at her feet. I stood up and readied myself, I had every reason to believe that Karasuba could kill me with a paper knife if she had to let aside an entire foot worth of high-quality steel.

"Interesting." Was the verdict from the gray haired woman who finally looked at me without a smile. "What was that?"

"Nicely done Rei." Yume walked over to us with a smile. "But I must agree with Karasuba here, what did you just do?"

"I am Rei, the Spirit Walker, or so Dietrich called me." I straightened up and sheathed my swords. "I can open gates to the Spirit Realm so what I did just now was use Gate:Open with my blade."

"A Sekirei who can send her opponents straight to the other side, a Shinigami." And suddenly that unnatural smile was back on Karasuba's face. "I think you'd fit quite well with us."

And so began my work with the Disciplinary Squad.

If I had to be honest, I rather liked being where I was right now. We, the Disciplinary Squad had an entire floor to ourselves, complete with separate rooms which were actually houses in disguise, a giant pool with three equally giant training rooms. Every day, was more or less the same. We'd get up somewhere around eight, eat, stretch and then either Yume or Karasuba will proceed to 'train' me. Frankly though, I was more of a glorified target practise. After seeing what my powers can do, Karasuba was quite wary of me in close combat. This really just meant that she wouldn't toy around and instead she'd just proceeded to brutalize me as quickly as possible while at the same time avoiding my blades. That is until she realized that my blades began to glow with an ethereal light blue glow every time my ability was activated and that although I could activate it in a moment, if I missed it could take me another couple seconds to charge up again, especially in a middle of a distractive fight.

It was difficult with Karasuba but passible. I at least slowly improved and each time lasted a couple seconds longer before inevitably biting the dust. With Yume on the other hand… The first time we sparred, the short woman, over whom Karasuba towered over, proceeded to quickly destroy me in melee with just her fists. Somehow, her mere presence makes me forget that she's so much shorter than me, if asked; I'd have sworn that she was at least on my level and I wasn't talking about skill. The moment she came into range, it was over and she'd have to slap me awake. Then there was the time I tried to keep her at distance, more or less running away from her each time she came close. I actually got her upset enough to use her abilities. I think that was the fastest time I've ever activated Gate:Open on myself to slip into Soul Form. The beam of light melted its way straight through the wall of the training room and then proceeded to blast its way through the skyscraper outer wall too and that was just a single beam which lasted a mere second. Even I, who was in the beam's path for a fraction of a second, had to get a new tabard as the old one literally disintegrated. Thankfully, my armour and my plated hands in front of my face saved me from getting burns on my body but it really was a close call. I have 0 doubts that if I was to take that beam full on, I wouldn't be getting back up, armour or no.

What followed after that was a hilarious scene where Yume thought she truly straight up disintegrated me and it was my ghost that she was currently seeing. After figuring out that it was actually just me in my Soul Form she scolded me for not telling her that I could do this. At which I retaliated in saying that she didn't tell me she could fire freaking laser beams at will. The end result was a truce and one laughing Karasuba who was on the floor from laughing too much.

Amusingly enough, Karasuba was very interested in my Soul Form and Spirit Realm in general. Even after hearing about how dull it is and that when I took Takami, Elizabeth and Dietrich there by accident they didn't like it, all she heard was that I could take someone with me. At which point I was ordered to do so which, thankfully, Yume shot down. Although somehow I have this doubt that Karasuba was going to follow that the moment Yume leaves…

Oh and we solved my clothing problem too! I got to keep my amazing armour that was vital to my continuous existence and would merely drape the haori over it, much like the trench coat Elizabeth got me mere days ago.

The days just passed by like that until suddenly, almost three weeks later, we got a mission. And just like that, the break was over and the real thing began.

The mission parameters were actually quite simple. MBI Intelligence Division, ID, received verified Intel that the Chinese were going to be sending several Black Operative Squads to Shinto Teito. While some of the squads will be raising hell as a distraction the last squad would sneak in the city and attempt capture and extraction of any Sekirei they find. Truthfully, this operation was doomed from the start due to MBI's satellite technology which allowed them to read a newspaper from orbit if they wanted to and they covered the city with its surrounding area practically perfectly. But Minaka decided that it would be a nice, easy operation to get me started. I agreed with him, as much as it pained me to agree on anything with the White Clown.

And so, I found myself sitting on an apartment building right over the actual Black Ops squad that was currently making its way through the evening gloom of Shinto Teito. I…was conflicted. On one hand, I was ordered to kill these humans, make an example of them. They were here to kidnap one of my kind and then take her to be experimented on and gods know what else. On the other hand, they were just following orders and…I've never actually killed anyone. Honestly, it all boiled down to that.

Shouts and a gunshot attracted my attention. I looked down to see the group advancing on a pair of civilians…wait. I watched as the girl took up a shaky fighting stance and pulled out knives out of somewhere. A Sekirei then, I had no more time left to make my decision. Her Ashikabi was on the ground clutching his leg while the girl shook from fright as she positioned herself as a shield for her downed mate. In seconds they will take her away, I had no more time.

"Surrender and we'll let the boy live." One of the men in black armour sternly said to the shaking girl in front of him. "I'll give you to a count of-"

How much time he actually was going to give would for ever be lost to history as suddenly in his place stood I, swords at the ready. I deliberately avoided looking down even as he twitched under my steel boots. One does not survive an armoured woman, weighing nearly a hundred kilograms falling on you from the tenth floor. The blood spray covering his nearest two squad mates would be a testament to that. There was just too much of it on them for him to be anything but very dead.

I was very surprised when they lifted their guns and opened fire but a second later. It was as if they had this sort of thing happen to them on a daily basis…but then again, they were Black Ops so for all I know it might've. Regardless of the fact, I suddenly found myself unable to go intangible as that would cause for the duo behind me to get hit. Maybe landing on the guy at the front wasn't a sound idea…

I was thinking this as I rushed the operatives before they could get an accurate bead on me. The bullets flew but they hit anything but me, the men just didn't have the time to actually sight their target and had to rely on shooting practically from the hip. I did have to deflect more than a couple bullets from my head though, my instincts, which were carefully raised under Dietrich's gentle care, telling me where to move my swords to prevent getting killed. Of course, having them sharpened by Karasuba's and Yume's blinding speed was also a bonus.

The first man I reached I cleaved in two, my strength was amplified by my charge which played a foul trick on me as I was sprayed by the man's blood. A part of me was surprised at just how much blood could be released so quickly, even as the rest of me turned and lunged at the nearest operative I could sense, my eyes blinking furiously to clear the crimson liquid from them. It was a very odd fight to say the least. I couldn't quite blink away the blood from the first guy so I had to rely on my other senses to find and kill the operatives while at the same time parrying their bullets that were aimed at my head, the only unarmoured part of my body.

All in all, it was a short fight, over within fifteen seconds with some operatives not even finishing emptying their bullet magazines at me. In the end it was just me standing in a blood soaked street wiping blood off my face so I could finally see. Sighing in exasperation, I just took off my mask and used it to wipe the blood out of my eyes and actually take a look. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find myself completely alone, the Sekirei must've had the common sense to grab her Ashikabi and run while I decimated her attackers. As I looked about at the bullet riddled street, a chill wind howled and I had to suppress a shudder. This looked like a poorly written horror story, a girl, a broken street and a ton of corpses. The one thing that didn't fit into that cliché is the fact that it was I who was the one who just made those corpses.

I took a closer look beneath my feet and suddenly had to empty my stomach, the picture was just too grotesque. Not only was the street literally bathed in blood, the surrounding houses had blood sprays on them too, showing where the operatives fell, cleaved into pieces. Limbs and guts lay all around with bodies looking like they were fed through a grinder strewn about.

"Not bad for a first mission." I looked up to see Karasuba walk towards me, her patented grin on her face. "I think we might have to rename you to 'The Bloody Sekirei' though."

I looked at myself and shuddered. I literally dripped blood that was not my own. Surprisingly, my armour stood up the test of point blank assault rifle fire extremely well. Well, aside from the cracks and chips it sported in the myriad now. The haori was completely gone on the other hand, a couple torn shreds of gray cloth were all that signified that I once had it. Note to self, next time take it off before a fight.

"Hmm, I think you might need new armour." Karasuba looked at me with fake worry, her grin still there.

"Did…did we finish the mission?" I swallowed and asked.

"Oh yes, we were done a while ago." Karasuba's smile stretched to partially close her eyes. "We were just watching you, right Yume?"

I glanced behind me to find Yume staring at me with a nondescript face.

"Oh, before you say anything," Karasuba called over to Yume. "We were told no survivors."

Yume merely nodded before turning around and jumping up onto the building and away towards MBI Tower.

"Come on, we have got to celebrate your first kill!" Karasuba followed Yume and jumped away, leaving me alone on a street with a bunch of bodies.

I looked around and then jumped up to follow my teammates even as MBI helicopters advanced on the blood soaked street I left behind. This…was not what I expected of my first mission.


	7. Gate:Confusion

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Waking up on Karasuba's bed with owner of said bed sleeping near me did nothing to alleviate my pounding head. Hell, it just made it worse when I tried to remember just how I got here. Looking at myself while holding my poor head I noticed with some relief that I was still in my track suit. After looking at Karasuba who was still in her black skirt and shirt combo I breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully she won't kill me if I just…<p>

"Going somewhere?" A deadly voice made me freeze as I was about to get up. Glancing higher I gulped to see Karasuba's 'People are about to die' grin. Yes, I was cataloging her grins now; they were actually variations of her typical grin. Granted, all that gave me was that I was about to die in an extremely painful death, but details.

"Do you remember how I got here?" I asked her with all the calmness of a death row inmate who made peace with the world. Or so Archive categorized it anyway. "Because I don't."

"Mmm…" The woman stretched leisurely, her hand just happening to graze the nodachi she had on her pillow. Great, now I knew that Karasuba slept with her nodachi…somehow I wasn't surprised. "Does it matter? You'll die regardless."

Suddenly a third voice groaned, originating from behind Karasuba made us both freeze.

"Shut up…it's too early for this."

The confused and 'did this really just happen' expression on Karasuba's face was priceless…except I knew I sported the exactly same one. We both looked over to see Yume behind the sheets clutching a pillow, facing us as she slept on.

"You know…" Karasuba said slowly, the shock still on her face. "Somehow, I don't think this was supposed to happen."

Turns out that both I and Karasuba had too much to drink last night while Yume was just tired from having to take on three Black Ops groups by herself while also dashing all over the city looking for them. So she decided to take a nap right then and there after dragging us all to a bed. Somehow, in her tired state, she didn't realize that she put us on same bed and that she crashed on same bed moments later. Yume blamed Karasuba for the mess because apparently the Black Sekirei wanted to drink me under the table but due to my body mass being nearly double hers, it evened out the odds even though Karasuba had built up a tolerance while this was my first time drinking.

What this actually turned into was me somehow facing off an angry, tired and hangover Karasuba while Yume decided to nap instead of watching over the spar to ensure that my opponent didn't murder me. I must say, after this sparring session I was forced to finally go and put a requisition order on my armour as it literally fell apart under the Black Sekirei's angry swings. It served me well, for the little time I had it and I actually had trouble throwing it away as it seemed unnatural to me to do something like that to the thing that saved my life on multiple occasions. On the positive side, I managed to slip into Soul Form before Karasuba began to do more than smash my armour off of me.

"I must say, Rei." The White Clown strode before me, his cape fluttering in non-existent wind. How he managed to do so, will forever remain a mystery to me. "I am impressed by your performance. A bit sloppy, but I see the potential in you."

He gestured with his hand on a giant screen on which I dashed towards a Black Ops operative with my eyes closed and my swords unleashing sparks as bullets bounced off them. The screen was playing the video in slow motion so I could see how bullets shattered, split or simply glanced off on contact.

"You managed to save a Sekirei and her Ashikabi and complete the mission with nary a scratch." He spun around and faced Yume who stood with Karasuba by her side. "I'd say good job to you too, but such words for facing small fry would be a bit much, hmm?"

"You are free for now, but the moment little birdies are in trouble you shall be called on." He laughed maniacally as he stared at the city lying before him.

I wish I could say the following year merely blended into a single unrememberable stream, but that would be a lie. I spent the year training, getting demolished by Karasuba, running away from Yume, drinking with Karasuba, drinking Yume under the table and a lot of killing. At some point I just stopped bothering to count just how many corpses I painted my surroundings with. I think it was the fourth or so mission when I and Karasuba went to Russia to kill a renegade MBI scientist who was going to sell everything he knew to the highest bidder. Who happened to be Russians. The strange part was that his guard was American and the only Russian on scene was a mere business representative. I didn't even bother killing him; Karasuba would do it for me.

Something that bothered me was that Archive started to get harder and harder to call, when I questioned him about this he merely stated that this is how it is meant to be. The more of his knowledge I absorb, the more of _him_ I absorb. Soon, there won't be a Rei and her Archive; it'll just be Rei with Archive's knowledge. I won't lie that the thought of losing the very first being I've ever communicated to, the being who kept me company so faithfully for so long…it was frightening. Archive seemed content with it though, he believed that at this point in time he was beginning to be unneeded and it was simply time for him to go. I argued with him on this, but in the end, there was just nothing that could be done.

Some may argue that talking and caring about a being that shares your head is preposterous and unnatural. I couldn't care less; this was my first mentor, my first friend. Losing him…I…

I actually talked to Yume about Archive. Going to Karasuba with this would be pointless, she'd merely tell me to suck it up and get on with it. Archive was fine with it? Then I should respect his decision and enjoy the time I had with him and that was that. Karasuba was rather individualistic like that, with a firm belief that everyone should control their own lives. It clashed rather spectacularly with the Sekirei way of life, what with us supposed to find out Ashikabi and bind ourselves to them, but somehow I doubt Karasuba will ever have trouble with the bond. Her will is strong enough that she could overrule anything she truly disliked and take whatever she truly wanted.

Anyway, Yume and I had a long talk between each other over the matter and eventually Yume told me that if this is what Archive really wanted then maybe I should start preparing myself mentally for the possibility. That being said, Yume told me to never give up, never stop looking for a way to reach my goals, whether it be winning this Sekirei Plan or trying to save a friend's life. So long as I went in, prepared for the worst but striving for the best, chances are I'd get a result that was far more positive than negative. Well, that was how she did everything, she told me with an embarrassed smile. I…I thanked her for this. This conversation was truly what I needed. I think I'll do a combination of what Karasuba and Yume told me. I'll respect Archive's decision and make the best of our time together while preparing for the possibility that he'll eventually leave me. At the same time, I won't stop searching for a way to keep him somehow, anyhow.

Several months down the road, Akitsu covertly gave me a piece of paper which had the details about the upcoming Sekirei plan. Only the first 3 stages were set in stone or at least available to all MBI officer staff. There were supposedly 2 more stages but only Minaka knew what they actually were and he was paranoid enough not to have any physical data on it, computer or paper.

Anyway, supposedly the First Stage began from the day the First Disciplinary Squad broke apart. The First Stage is supposed to be the longest and calmest stage out of 5. The Sekirei would search for their Ashikabi, get winged and live out their lives, for as long as they had. Of course, if they were smart, they'd use the time offered by the First Stage to train so that they don't die instantly in later Stages. Akitsu had a small note here where she wrote that, statistically, less than a fifth of all Sekirei actually bothered to train. It was a little sad actually.

The Second Stage began when there were only 10 Unwinged Sekirei left and this Stage was meant to be quite short. It was in this stage that MBI, or more specifically Minaka, began to take an active part in the Plan. Although the Ashikabi were kept track of now, as soon as Second Stage began, they were all to be transported back into Shinto Teito and the city would be put under lockdown by MBI. Occasionally, at Minaka's discretion, information of current location of an Unwinged Sekirei would be mass-mailed to all Ashikabi in order to shorten the stage. It is in this stage that the real combat is thought to begin. Currently, very few Sekirei actually fight and none take it all the way to deactivation.

The Third Stage is meant to be a series of scenarios, everything from capture the flag to last Ashikabi standing. The reward for each scenario is a Jinki although what that was I didn't know, Akitsu didn't bother specifying. I guess it's some very important prize if it's being given away for such a steep cost. Akitsu wrote a little note at the end that the only thing they were able to gleam from Minaka is that the Jinki will play a crucial part in Stage Four. After committing everything written to memory via Archive, I incinerated the note and threw the ashes away during the next mission.

The one thing all three of us constantly disagreed on was the killings. Yume hated killing and would do it only if ordered to and with no other alternative. I could empathize with that, she was strong enough to not care about living enemies behind her. If they came at her again, she'd merely knock them out with a single careless blow and get on with her life.

Karasuba on the other hand, was the direct opposite and reveled in bloodshed and terror she caused. It was quite frequent to see grown, hardened soldiers to piss their pants at the sight of this grinning demon with a blood drenched blade. She was just as skilled as Yume, but unlike her leader, she used her skills in a slightly different way. For example, she never needed to clean her uniform even though she would literally be up to her knees in bodies at times. Somehow, all of her strikes landed in such a manner that blood would go everywhere but on her.

And then there was me. I tended to kill everyone who had a weapon at hand or anything that could be categorized as a weapon. I just wasn't good enough not to kill my opponents. Well, either that or each time I try to land a non-lethal blow, the training ingrained into my body by Dietrich kicks in and I find myself angling the blow just a little bit or putting a bit more strength then I intended to and suddenly, I am swimming in blood. Karasuba got quite the kick from teasing me after each mission where both she and Yume walk out as if they were attending a ball while I would walk out as if I just visited the slaughterhouse. Hell, I was even named as 'Bloody Sekirei' by Minaka just as Karasuba prophesized…it also seems like my list of titles just keeps growing.

It was a bit funny, but eventually I was being feared more than even Karasuba who still broke into giggles whenever she saw someone piss their pants from just one look at my bloodied, armor-clad form. The fact that she did though and I lived to tell the tale is just another example of my role in the group. Truth be told, I was weak compared to the duo. I still got my ass handed to me by both Karasuba, when she stops playing around, and by Yume who did it just by being Yume. No, my role in the group was the mediator, the person both Yume and Karasuba could relate to more or less. Honestly, the two were like fire and water, just plain incompatible. With me in the middle though…


	8. Gate:Normality

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Mmm...so I got a bunch of views but no actual reviews, its a bit disconcerting.

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><p>"This again…"<p>

"Shut up, and go back to sleep." Karasuba muttered as she lay by my side. Yume, who was again snuggled up to Karasuba, merely slept on. Somehow, we kept ending up in the same bed the three of us after each mission. We never did anything but sleep and somehow, as the year progressed, less and less memories of how we actually ended up together stayed alive. Yes, we managed to get Yume drunk on more than one occasion and after that it turns into one hilarious party. Being a self-proclaimed Sekirei of Love and Fate, Yume, on more than one occasion, would go after Karasuba with claims that she'd show her Love after getting drunk.

Thankfully, she never managed to get more than a kiss before falling over asleep. The first time that happened, it was me who had to put us all away as Karasuba fell into shocked stupor which eventually grew into sleep and she thought she merely had a nightmare. Until it happened again and this time she was more or less still there. She almost killed Yume right then and there but somehow Yume managed to knock her out while asleep.

Let it be forever known that I and Karasuba called her a cheat and foul player after the incident while she just took it with an embarrassed smile. Seriously, just what the hell was she if she could take on Karasuba while asleep? It was just not fair. At first Karasuba tried to avoid the grabby, kissy drunk but after being chased down five floors and finally getting kissed regardless, she just rolls with it now. I, being afraid for my skin, would forever be silent about how Karasuba actually began to enjoy said kisses when sufficiently drunk. I kind of like being alive and telling this to either one of them would be very detrimental to my continual survival.

We actually had a discussion on just how game-breaking she is and when I said that Takami told me that they kind of screwed up when they tried adjusting Sekirei 6 to 9, Karasuba agreed and told me how number 6 would occasionally morph into a male and then back again into female or how number 7 spontaneously winged herself. Only number 9 turned out somewhat okay, although psychologically she was far from normal. Somehow promoting number 8 into god-tier wasn't the worst that could've happened.

Occasionally, Takami would show up, kick the shit out of Minaka, scare the living daylights out of everyone in the building, have a sarcastic fight with Karasuba, wave at Yume and have a drink with me. It was so nice when she showed up; the whole building just came to life with terrorized employees everywhere running amok. Karasuba never said anything, but I could tell she enjoyed the atmosphere and waited patiently for Takami to show up.

Takami was rather disappointed with me joining the Disciplinary Squad and being neck deep in blood but I managed to persuade her that it was for the best. Here I'd hone my skills and have a much greater chance of surviving the game and fixing this mess. She wasn't particularly happy but agreed that this path was necessary, especially after she read the mission reports. Akitsu merely asked me if this was truly what I wanted and when I replied affirmative she left it at that.

Sometimes Akitsu came with Takami as she didn't like leaving her side for an extended period of time. When she did, it was quite fascinating what happened. Whereas Takami would sow chaos and destruction in her path, somehow getting things that were blocked done, all Akitsu had to do was stare at someone and say something in that soft voice of hers and suddenly, things got done at the speed of light. When I asked Takami privately about this, she laughed and said that five years back, she had Akitsu skewer some arrogant asshole who thought she was a mere toy for humans like him. After listening to his screams for days as the fool slowly died, the work ethic somehow increased to unimaginable heights and anything Akitsu asked was treated as a priority order on par with Minaka's.

Dietrich showed up, once. I saw him for all of five minutes before Karasuba charged in and dragged him off to the training room. What I saw there, I'd never forget. Even with my enhanced reflexes and reaction time all I saw sometimes was a mere blur. It was later, thanks to Archive that I could see the whole battle in relative slow motion. I thought I had a chance beating Dietrich with all of the training I've been doing? Nope, that isn't going to happen, not for another decade at best and then only because he'd slow down due to age. He fought Karasuba, a serious Karasuba, to a standstill. Well, it was more like she won on stamina while he won on the actual blows landed. How he managed I'd never know as at those speeds he shouldn't even be able to see her come at him. Yet every blow she swung at him was either dodged or pushed a little to the side to ensure it didn't actually hit him.

I could now see why Dietrich showed up so rarely, and it wasn't because he was busy training new weapon type Sekirei. If this is how Karasuba greeted him, and she did just this according to Yume, I am completely unsurprised that he visited rarely and never stayed. Yume told me that the one time he stayed for longer than a day, Karasuba was at his door first thing in a morning and dragged him off to a spar before the poor man had a chance to even brush his teeth. I was in much greater shock later though, when a drunken Karasuba confessed that if Dietrich was an Ashikabi she'd wing herself on him without a second thought. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Dietrich wasn't an Ashikabi and couldn't give more than the regular duels to Karasuba.

I thanked the gods that Karasuba didn't remember that talk in the morning. And that she didn't remember Yume comforting her about how the only worthy human she'd ever found wasn't even an Ashikabi. She also mentioned something about number 1 suffering from the same problem except that number 1 decided to get married and just accept that her chosen could never give her wings. The Black Sekirei was vividly against being intimate with anyone but her Ashikabi though. And Yume but that was an afterthought and I swear I must be imagining things. There's no way Karasuba would ever say that and if she did there would be no survivors who could claim to have heard this happen.

As time progressed, my alcohol tolerance increased and this combined with my body mass made sure that I was usually the last one standing after drinking the rest of my squad under the table. This also allowed me to keep some very interesting memories…

The three of us were sitting, drinking and unwinding from the latest mission. Well, at this point it was just me and Karasuba left while Yume was sound asleep at her chair, her head resting on her arms due to her low alcohol tolerance level. Regardless, the main point is where the conversation swayed…

"First Generation?" Karasuba snorted. "What a joke. I am amazed it lasted for as long as it did with the composition it had. Oh sure it seemed fine on paper, 2 long range Sekirei, 2 melee Sekirei and a support Sekirei could demolish any theoretical threat the world could toss at us."

"But the moment the fight was over, we fell apart for the stupidest reasons." Karasuba grimaced and took another shot of sake. "Kazehana, the stupid, dumb bitch with wind for brains managed to convince herself that she was reacting to Minaka of all people. She was even worse than Yume, with her speeches about love and how it could overcome anything. Hah, the joke is on her here though, as the White Clown is actually in love with Takami and he denied Kazehana her wings instantly. Next thing we know, we are now 4 as Kazehana is now wandering the world, searching for her True Ashikabi while drinking away her broken heart."

She took another sip before continuing.

"Then there was that whore Miya, but I don't even want to talk about that self-righteous bitch right now." A disgusted grimace twisted her features. "And so there we are, with three Sekirei left."

"The next to go was Mutsu, the only male Sekirei of the group. I don't know how, but the guy managed to get himself winged to a young boy of all things. Damn was I ever disappointed."

She softly laughed after a pause before cracking a soft smile.

"And then there was the little, jumpy Matsu with the cutest squeal I've ever heard." Karasuba laughed to herself again. "I might've overdone it a bit though, she fears me more than the devil itself."

She stared at her empty sake cup for a long moment before continuing, a rare touch of respect in her voice.

"Then she did something none of us expected. She stole a Jinki." Seeing the question in my eyes, Karasuba continued with a sickly smile on her face. "A Sekirei control device. There is 8 Jinki in total so with one missing it is impossible to directly control us. I am…proud of her, Rei."

The soft revelation stunned me. Karasuba, proud of someone?

"Miya may have sold us all into eternal slavery but Matsu managed to at least keep our wills somewhat intact and free. It is for this that I'll never actively hunt for her no matter how many tantrums the White Clown throws. And if I were to ever meet her on the street, face to face, I'll suddenly remember that I have something far more important to do…like tie my shoes."

Considering Karasuba wore boots that reached her thighs with no laces what so ever, I was quite impressed by how far she was willing to go for Matsu. But there was something she said that I just had to clarify, it was too important not to.

"You said Miya sold us all into slavery." I asked carefully, staring into her pale brown eyes. 'What do you mean?"

Karasuba stared at back at me for a long time, unmoving, before she finally drank her recently refilled sake cup and carelessly tossed it aside to its doom, with disgust clear on her face.

"Yes, I suppose you should know why I despise Miya." She nodded slowly to herself. "Well, let's start with the fact that she is a Sekirei Pillar. You thought Yume is strong? Miya could wipe the floor with her without even breaking her stride. She was meant to protect us, guide us…rule us."

"And then that dumb lovesick moron sold us to a fucking insane Clown for a mere human." Karasuba hunched over the table, her head clutched in her arms. "I'd understand if she did it for her Ashikabi, the bond is difficult to resist, but Takehito in a common human unable to wing her! And then, when the god damn Clown reveals his twisted plans to kill us all for fucking fun she merely shrugged and said it didn't concern her anymore, as she was a simple housewife now."

Karasuba half-laughed, half-hiccupped.

"A housewife who slaughtered more than a half of the nearly hundred thousand men strong force in the First Invasion. A simple…housewife…"

Karasuba's muttering degenerated into drunken giggling and then finally she fell asleep, leaving me alone to think on what she said. Somehow, after hearing the Black Sekirei's monologue, by opinion of the First dropped to sewer level if not lower. To think that she calmly sold her own race first to slavery and then to genocide without battering an eyelash just to get away from her duties as the Pillar…

I shook my head, in the long run, this didn't matter. I'll still use my wish to go back and fix this mess and if the First is such an uncaring bitch, then it is for the better that she doesn't rule us. With a ruler like that, we'd be all dead within the year anyway. I took a deep sigh and hauled the bodies of my friends to the bedroom, Kara and I had a mission tomorrow.

What I didn't expect, was for Karasuba to actually remember the conversation. That would be the first and only time she ever did though which made me rather impressed by the amount of hate she had for Miya.

"So, Rei." Karasuba casually sat on the couch, the only furniture not covered with blood in the room. "What do you think of Miya now that you've heard my opinion?"

We were all alone in this small research facility in Texas, USA. Minaka decided to send just the 2 of us this time and keep Yume home in case of an emergency. To be honest, at this point either I or Karasuba alone would be enough to take care of something like this. Killing the defector and all witnesses wasn't too difficult and actually made me wonder just where we were getting all of these defectors from. Did they not realize that at the end of the day, they had absolutely 0 chance of survival when we found them? Was there a point in having money when dead? So far, I've seen no money on the other side and all of the souls seem exactly the same to me.

"Do you know what my wish is, Karasuba?" I sat down on a corpse across her, uncaring of the blood. It'll wash off eventually.

"Should I?" Her voice might sound carefree, but I knew enough about her facial expressions to see a subtle change in that smile of hers.

"Ever since I left Kamikura," I started seriously, my eyes on hers. "I wished to go back to when this mess just started…and kill Minaka."

I used Karasuba's grin when I saw her eyes widen and her own smile fade away.

"Takami, Elizabeth and Dietrich would be more than enough to create a new MBI, whose only goal is to serve us, Sekirei." I finished dropping the bomb on the completely serious Black Sekirei.

It started slow at first. A twitch, a smile, a giggle and suddenly Karasuba rolled around on the couch, maniacal laughter echoing throughout the room.

"Ah, I knew there was a reason I liked you Rei." Karasuba finally drawled, wiping her tears away with her sleeves. "I like you wish, Rei, and I think I'll take it for myself; yes, these lesser creatures should live to serve us."

I wisely withheld that I wanted to guide humanity to evolution so that they could stand by our side rather than merely enslave them. Karasuba, who so far has only seen the worst humanity has to offer, wouldn't understand. She just wouldn't see their potential.

"Come, Rei." Karasuba stood up and offered me her hand. "Let's go home."


	9. Gate:Despair

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>I've seen Elizabeth briefly once and we haven't had much of a chance to do anything but wave to each other before she took off on a helicopter back to Kamikura. I was a bit sad about it, but I understood that she was needed to guide the newly born Sekirei. Speaking of which, I was part of the welcoming committee the last time and I am sure there is one due soon. Unlike me, it seems that a Sekirei batch would take about seven to eight months to complete their final adjustment. And even then, it seems like some of them are scatterbrained while the rest are just bad at blending in because they stuck out like a sore thumb whenever I was on a patrol. They were just…different from the surrounding mass of humans. Granted, we were a different race and they didn't have Archive in their head to help them adjust, but sometimes it was just ridiculous. More than once I had to step in and slaughter the random banditsmuggers/rapists that seemed to gravitate towards these young women with that wide-eyed look that just seemed to scream naïve. Sometimes I wonder if I ever looked like that, back a year ago. I hope not, but if I did, thanks to Karasuba and Minaka I don't anymore.

Whenever I was not on a mission or drinking or training, I'd go out and patrol the streets, protecting the Sekirei from the trouble they just loved attracting. I'd also frequently run into number 6, Homura, who really liked to try and turn me into toast with those powers of fire of his. However, after I stopped caring to dodge and merely patrolled in my Soul Form, Homura gave up after a lot of shouting and fist waving. I had the exact same thing happen when I met Tsukiumi, Sekirei number 9, the water user, except that she doesn't give up. Every time I appear in her line of sight I get a water cannonball sent at me. It does nothing but is amusing non-the-less.

It was also very interesting for me to gain recognition by the various Sekirei around the city. I was apparently known as the 'Bloody Sekirei' amongst my kin. There was just so many of these incidents that I stopped caring eventually and just did it as a duty, unlike Homura who genuinely believes that it's his calling to make sure the little birds only get their wings from their True Ashikabi. I also was ambushed a couple times by Sekirei led by a couple Ashikabi who thought that they owned the city. There was this guy called…Higa? Was it Higa? Who cares though? I merely turned into my Soul Form and calmly left, ignoring whatever that trash was trying to say to me.

Then there was this Mikogami kid who treated the whole thing like a game and tried to sick Mutsu, number 5 on me. I was never more thankful that my Soul Form was so untouchable then back then as I fled from the guy who used to be in the First Disciplinary Squad. I couldn't do jack to the duo in the Second and this guy used to be in the First. Hell no, I am not going anywhere near him.

Finally, there were a couple of clowns with lightning powers, numbers 11 and 12 I believe, who also tried their best to fry me. However, their Ashikabi was a rather smart fellow, even if he did look like a homeless bum. The third time they came after me; he showed up out of nowhere, canceled their attack and apologized for them bothering me. Considering that I was in Soul Form, I didn't particularly care about their attacks, but their Ashikabi drew my attention with his plea not to kill his Sekirei. After telling him I wasn't going to we all went apart on our separate ways even as I heard him yell at his Sekirei for trying to suicide by angering the 'Bloody Sekirei' aka me.

My patrols and thus the encounters I underwent were quite well received by Karasuba and Yume, with the former often laughing at my adventures while the later preferred to hand out her smiles. Truly, I was getting used to the whole situation. Train, get obliterated in a spar, go on a mission, wash my armour, get wasted, wake up on Karasuba's bed and then go on a patrol. It was nice, while it lasted. We truly were getting closer together and lately we somehow began to just fall asleep on Karasuba's bed regardless of whether we were drunk or not. I swear her bed is somehow mystically softer then both mine and Yume's, yes that must be the reason…shut up Archive.

And then…then came a mission that changed everything.

"Yume, Karasuba, Rei." Minaka got up, his clown façade completely gone for once. "You're departing to Kamikura Island, effective immediately. An assault has taken place this early morning and the assailants managed to get aboard the ship and make off with two Sekirei."

Yume covered her mouth in horror, Karasuba actually stopped grinning for once and I somehow found my hands clutching my sword hilts. Heads are going to roll for this; I'll make sure of it.

"They managed to do this because of a highly placed mole in our ID but do not worry, he's been taken care off." Minaka began pacing in front of us. "What matters is the retrieval of Sekirei temporarily designated as number 87 and number 88 who weren't meant to be woken up yet. At the moment, we have no idea of their location due to the damage done by the mole. You are to search the island and retrieve them as soon as possible, clear?"

"Yes, Professor." Yume acknowledged the orders.

"Good, god speed." And with that we were off, the pilot pushing the helicopter to give it all it's got to get there to Kamikura as fast as possible. As we flew, we read the details of the invasion via the tablets, courtesy of Minaka.

From what's known is that at 6:00 in the morning on this not-so-fine day of June 22nd, 2018 several ships approached Kamikura Island from the North. While their cruisers traded rockets and ballistics with the MBI defence fleet, nearly a thousand troops made their way onto the beach and began their assault. The MBI managed to hold the line, or so it seemed until an explosion and smoke appeared at the Sekirei ship. Knowing the enemy's true goal, MBI, led by Akitsu, managed to fight off the invasion with heavy losses and reclaim the ship. However, at that point it was too late as Takami found that two Sekirei, given the numbers 87 and 88 for now for sake of identification, were taken. As of this moment, the MBI is still stuck trying to fight past the marines who are dying but not letting up an inch of ground. Because the MBI fleet obliterated the opposition, it is believed that this operation was meant to sacrifice all of that tech and troops just to buy enough time to glean whatever they could from Sekirei they captured.

I had to give it to whoever planned this operation. They knew that no one going in would make it out and instead managed to make a plan where they'd trade all of these pawns for vital information on Sekirei. They believed it was worth it and, honestly, I agree. MBI rose from dust into the multi-billion company it is today over a couple decades and a bit of research into Sekirei. It's been two hours since the beginning of the assault and we still had another hour till we get to the island, but somehow I have doubts that the captive Sekirei will live for much longer.

Meanwhile, Yume ordered the pilot to contact the Kamikura defence force and tell them to lay back on the assault a bit. After thinking for a moment, I had to applaud Yume's decision. If Minaka had any hope on the Kamikura defence force actually driving off the invaders and getting to the Sekirei on time, he wouldn't have made such a big fuss about it when briefing us. The amount of time the captives stay alive is directly tied to the defence of the marines buying time for the scientists. If they are destroyed then the scientists would have to hurry up and at that point it would be more merciful to just kill the Sekirei when we find them.

From the distance, one couldn't see Kamikura island. All one would see would be the gigantic smoke plume that rose from all over the island, with burning machinery and bodies at land and sea. Although the occasional gigantic shard of ice added a nice touch to the scene, Akitsu must've had a field day there. The pilot dropped us off at the northern shore, flying low to avoid getting spotted. Somewhere in this area, the scientists were studying the captive Sekirei as just a couple kilometers further invading marines were dying by the dozen to buy time.

We decided to split up and search, as time was of the essence and we all believed that even a single one of us would be more than enough for the scientist scum and what little guard they had. I took the west, Karasuba went east and Yume advanced south, towards the marines. I didn't find anything but a passing squad of marines patrolling the area. After slaughtering the majority of them and making sure the officer wasn't going anywhere – hard to without legs – I began questioning them on the location of the scientists. Just my luck though, the most they knew was that the science team was separate from everyone else. With a disappointed sigh I ended their pain via dismemberment and continued on my way.

Eventually, I hit the end of the territory and hurried back, not caring about stealth anymore. At this point, Karasuba and Yume must be done with their search and either one of them must've found something. Surprisingly, I found Karasuba searching the middle area herself, with Yume nowhere in sight. Apparently, Karasuba's search yielded nothing so we both quickly searched the area and soon found a small tent town hidden amongst the rocks and sand. Strewn all around were bodies of marines and scientists alike as Yume, in her usual fashion, merely knocked all of the annoyances aside before carrying on.

We hurried in, Karasuba even decided against finishing off anyone we saw in her hurry to find Yume and I also had a weird feeling whenever I thought of her.

"…Am I dreaming?" Karasuba leaned against the pillar supporting the large tent. "Yume…"

I rushed forward and dropped by Yume who sat, hunched over a child Sekirei, in a huge pool of blood. Another child was sniffling at the side but I paid her no attention as I turned over Yume and felt my heart shudder to a near stop. At the center of her chest, what humans call the solar plexus a hole could be seen and what was far worse, was the fact that I couldn't see her Tama there. To us, the Sekirei, our Tama is our core, our soul. Without a Tama, we cannot function and we cannot exist. To see Yuma, my leader and someone I respected like an elder sister completely and utterly dead…

"What. Happened. Here." Karasuba grabbed the sniffling kid and shook her violently to make her stop crying. "Tell me now."

The child sniffled and cried but in the end we got the story. Apparently, Yume was slightly too late and found the scientists cutting up the other child there and in the process damaged her Tama. Yume, after demolishing everyone in the area, decided, in her usual display of heroism, to revive the dying child. Except that in order to do so, she had to cut out her own Tama and fuse it with the broken one to revive the child. Which she proceeded to do without battering an eyelash and before she died she made the two kids swear to her that they'd fight to be the final ones and then use their wish to free all Sekirei with broken wings, whatever that meant.

At this point I couldn't hold it in anymore and lost in hysterical laughter. Only Yume would ever do something like this all in return for making a couple kids swear oaths they haven't yet understood. Karasuba on the other hand just sat there, the kid long since making her escape from the steely arms suddenly gone limp. After finishing my laugher and pulling myself together I made it over to Karasuba and hugged her. She on the other hand began shaking before suddenly breaking out in hysterics of her own. I merely held her as she gabbled on about how now she'll never defeat the 'foul player' and how Yume got the final laugh.

Eventually she stopped and we just sat there, drawing comfort from each other.

"Rei…" Karasuba finally said, a twitch signaling the failed attempt at her smirk. "Didn't know you were into girls like Yume."

I merely smiled and held her tighter to my armoured chest. We both needed this right now, to know that we were still here for each other even with this loss shaking our tightly knitted squad violently.

"You know, this would be so much better if your armour wasn't so hard." Karasuba made another quip in an attempt to pull herself together into the usual sarcastic self.

"I am still here." I muttered gently to both myself and the woman in my grasp. "And so are you."

"And so is Yume…to a degree." Both of us turned to look at the sleeping child to whom Yume gave her core to. The Black Sekirei was quite right, to a Sekirei their Tama came first and foremost. I've heard it was possible for a Sekirei to get a new body just so long as their Tama is intact, which meant that Yume was currently somewhere in that child's body and gods know what will happen as a result of two Tama's mixing.

"Come on, we need to finish this." I stood up and pulled Karasuba with me and suddenly we stood there, face to face, both of us tired warriors who just lost a leader, a friend, and –perhaps – something more. "We must keep moving forward."

"Yea, you're right." Karasuba stepped out of my loose embrace and went over to pick up her sword which she dropped by the tent 'door' or the piece of cloth that passed for it. I meanwhile, picked up Yume's body carefully and held her close my chest, the smaller woman passing for a small girl in my arms. Karasuba in turn flipped the injured child over her shoulder and grabbed the other kid by the wrist and pulled her up. As we passed by a knocked out scientist by the door, Karasuba took twisted joy in stomping on his head, hard, and scattering his brains all over the floor.

"Stop it Kara." I called over. "Don't give them a quick, painless death. These fuckers need to get tortured for what they've done. For what they made Yume do."

Karasuba paused in mid-stomp and then glanced at me weirdly. I am not sure what caused this to happen more, the fact that I just shortened her name which she didn't let anyone do or the fact that she agreed with my words on the torture part.

"You're right, these bastards need to burn for what they've done." Karasuba instead chose to step on the man's privates, grinding those to dust with a sadistic grin. The poor man whimpered even while in deep knockout. And so we walked out onto the beach where we sat side by side, just staring at the water, Yume's body on our knees and the brats safely sleeping/knocked out behind us.

"Feels like this is just a nightmare…a bad dream that is about to end and we'll wake up to find Yume curled up behind you as always." I said softly as I brushed Yume's soft brown hair. The fact that my words were punctured by a particularly loud explosion and the constant streams of gunfire in the background merely added to the unrealism of what was happening. When I joined the Disciplinary Squad and first sparred with Yume I realized, deep down, that if anyone was to win this sick game, it would be Yume. It would be preferable if she won in fact, for there is no possible way for her wish to be bad. If it was, it wouldn't be Yume. The fact that she was a tier of her own, a cheat and a 'foul player' as Kara called her merely added to the notion that she'd outlast all of us.

And yet…here we sat, me and Kara, side by side with Yume's body laid out on our laps. The shock of seeing our seemingly undefeatable leader dead was…incomprehensible. I think we still half believed that she'd just sit up and yawn and say she enjoyed her nap any moment now. But she didn't, she merely laid there, an abandoned shell of the woman who we came to respect and love.

And so we sat, watching as a helicopter flew towards us, even as the sounds of the battle behind us died down. Watched as it grew closer and we waited that this would all turn out to be a farce, a terrible nightmare. Watched as it landed and Takami stepped out, her face turning white at the picture. Behind her swayed Akitsu, even tired and battered as she was, she wouldn't leave Takami's side. Watched as they came near and knelt beside Yume's body and suddenly, at that moment, we knew this was real. Yume's death wasn't some dream from which we would wake and find her snoring gently, curled up in a ball with her nose stuck into Kara's back.

For the first time in my life, my vision swam and suddenly I found salty drops drip down my face which Archive solemnly called tears. And for the first time in my life, I found myself in Kara's arms as she comforted me.


	10. Gate:Kara

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

To chiriruoni: Thank you for the review. I must say this however: The canon is still going to be present. After all, the canon is the adventures of Sahashi Minato, are they not? This story is about Rei, but considering they are both in same game/city, Rei's decisions/actions will change the canon - occasionally drastically and the further the story goes the more - but at the same time canon has a major presence just because many decisions/events that occur in the canon cannot be changed by Rei. It's a bit difficult changing something one has no control over or doesn't even know of it's existence.

Yume's death is a prime example of this, it's canon, but at the same time, Rei could do absolutely nothing to stop it and she wasn't even aware of the possibility of this occurring.

Concerning power levels (9000/etc), Rei will be powerful. She also worked her ass off to get to that stage and there will be no random powerups from gods know where in this story. Also, unlike the original Sekirei where the Sekirei had their actual power dampened, in this story only the growth is dampened meaning that Sekirei who bothered to train and evolve their power are literally god-like beings. But Rei is by no means the strongest kid in the sandbox. I mean, not only is there always Miya (challenging a goddess = death 100% guarantee) but theres plenty of Sekirei who have been out there for longer than Rei has and thus had more time to train, experiment, evolve their powers.

Mmm, I think I am rambling (?) now so on with the story instead.

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><p>Turns out fate wasn't satisfied with the beat down in delivered that day. Oh sure, MBI suffered horrible losses - nearly 90% of all forces stationed on Kamikura Island in fact -, the Kamikura town was practically razed to the ground, 87 and 88 nearly died while Yume actually died. No, the real kicker came in now as Kara and I stood by a coffin half closed. It was actually a foolish notion, as there was literally nothing beneath the closed part. For the second time today, I held Kara in my arms, offering her comfort, as she stared at the calm face of the man lying in the coffin. Dietrich Sweinog happened to be inside the ship at the time of the attack and he was found there, or what was left of him surrounded by nearly a hundred corpses. Takami theorized, in a quiet voice, that the only reason they got him at all was because someone fired a rocket without caring about friendly fire. They killed him and a dozen of their own soldiers with that rocket. He died like a true warrior, surrounded by corpses of his enemies and his swords in his hands. Even now, in death, he clutched them, unwilling to let go, and it was in this state that he was going to be laid to rest.<p>

To me Dietrich was a father figure, the man poured his soul in teaching me as much as he possibly could and his death was…excruciating. To Kara on the other hand, as much as she'd try to deny it, Dietrich was her Ashikabi in all but fact. How she cursed fate on that drunken night a month ago that the only human she found worthy was not an Ashikabi. His death, along with Yume, practically shattered her. In one day, she lost two pillars that supported her world. It was in this moment that I decided to fuck the True Ashikabi and the rest of this bullshit. I'll stick with Kara regardless of whom she picks just so I could be there, for her.

After Dietrich's funeral, Kara and I went over to oversee Yume get put into her Stasis Capsule, the place where she'd lie till the end of the Sekirei Plan. The vast room had exactly 100 and 8 capsules, one for each Sekirei on the ship. It was also completely empty, as no Sekirei has been deactivated or killed up to this moment.

It was…ironic that the first Sekirei to fall would be the one who had all the chances to win and to free us all. As Kara and I watched, we didn't just bury our closest friend. We also buried the greatest hope out kind had whether they understood it or not.

The month that followed the assault was hectic to say the least. Minaka was practically foaming at the mouth with his obsession to hunt down every single person responsible for the attack and kill them all. Kara and I were only too happy to go after them. From Hong Kong, China to Houston, USA to Vladivostok, Russia to Berlin, Germany. Each visit yielded dozens of corpses and a little measure of closure to both Kara and I. It felt good to listen to their terrified screams and begs for mercy as I or Kara sliced them to tiny pieces, slowly letting out our pain for Yume's death with each stroke.

Every night we crashed, tired, and fell asleep instantly in each other's arms; the exhaustion and the warmth of our embrace warding the nightmares away. Eventually though, we finally came to terms with Yume's death and by the final mission of this gigantic chain, we merely slaughtered everyone and left, not bothering to torture the mastermind of the invasion. We just took his head for Minaka and left.

The results of this month long witch hunt were that both Kara and I became very widely known in certain circles and interest groups. Kara gained the nickname MBI's hound and I got called the MBI boogeyman. I must admit, the first time Minaka told us about this with a serious face, both of us just lost it and laughed ourselves to tears. Still smiling, we made it to our floor and then stared at the door, our good mood evaporating faster than a snowball in the middle of a nuclear explosion.

We glanced at each other and then Kara opened the door and we walked in. The floor was exactly as we left it, in a slight state of perpetual chaos, with a thin layer of dust everywhere. Any human who found themselves on this floor was liable to end up in the Morgue, courtesy of Kara. This meant that we had to clean up after ourselves, but at least we knew exactly where everything was.

Somehow, we ended up gravitating towards the door to Yume's room. Instead of names, our doors were engraved with colored pictures. Mine was a pale blue flame burning calmly from a white orb. Kara's was a black sword on a red field. Yume's was the Sekirei symbol inside of a yellow sun. Gently, we pushed the door open and walked into the room that was bathed by the final rays of the dying star.

The room was fairly empty for something so big. A bed, a desk with a laptop and a chair, a meditation mat by the window that was actually the wall. And a bookcase full of books and disks, every single one of them a romance of some kind. From classics like Romeo and Juliet and Titanic to modern day trash that I didn't bother reading or watching, no matter how much Yume coerced me to.

It was…empty. Of course, it was empty as we knew Yume was gone but…it was the sight of her empty room to which she'd never come back that put the final period.

Yume was not coming back.

That night, the two of us got wasted as usual, but the change didn't come up until morning…

"…This is new."

"Shut up and go to sleep." Kara tightened her grip around my naked body and sighed contently as she rested her head on my modest chest. "Wait…"

""Do you remember what happened last night?" I asked, with my right hand still stuck between her thighs.

"Nope." Kara opened one eye, surveyed the situation and closed it back. "Was bound to happen sooner or later anyway."

I nodded slowly, relieved that she wasn't mad about the situation and decided to make the best of it by hugging the Sekirei lying by my side with my left arm. Kara merely hummed appreciatively.

Throughout the day, I'd get very distracting flashes of the previous night as my memory began to come back…

"…Not Yume." Drunken Kara pulls back from a surprise kiss with a disappointed sigh.

"I am not Yume." I answer, feeling strange from her actions. "I am Rei."

And then Kara's beautiful pale brown eyes, wide in surprise, drew very close and suddenly…

"Stay." Kara grabs my arms as I deposited her gently on her bed. I staggered in surprise; I thought she has passed out.

"Forever and ever." Something from deep inside of me spoke out and suddenly I was kissing the Black Sekirei once more…

And the scenes after that drove all of my blood straight to my head, neck and ears, giving me genuine worry that I might pass out. Later in the evening I sat down with Kara and told her everything I remembered, including the scenes that made my blood boil.

"Did you mean it?" Kara asked me after a long silence, her face uncharacteristically serious and something lurking in her eyes. "That you'd stay with me forever, and not even Ashikabi can separate us?"

"Yes." I said resolutely. "I'll just take whatever Ashikabi you react to."

Kara's face with strangely glittering eyes suddenly took up my entire view.

"…"

"Shut up and go to sleep."

I didn't even get a chance to say anything so I hugger the naked, warm body that lay beside me closer and closed my eyes, a happy smile on my lips.

The next time I woke up it was with a solution how to save Archive. The solution was so simple that I the only reason I didn't bash my head against the wall in frustration was because that'd wake Kara. Each time Archive showed or taught me something, he didn't actually teach or show me that thing. Instead he merely integrates a part of himself concerning that particular knowledge into my mind, giving me complete access of everything he has. The solution was to reject this transfer and instead learn it on my own.

Trouble was, by this point, Archive claimed that I absorbed more than 85 percent of him. Currently he is but a fragment of himself, hibernating more often than not, but at least he is still here with me. He also commented that because he was meant for a male Sekirei, all of the information he integrated into me were tainted by a male's perspective and view. By absorbing parts of him, several of my views were tweaked or changed, although which ones and how he cannot say.

Honestly, I don't give a damn. As far as I am concerned, nothing changed in me and whatever did change, I am not missing. All I cared about at that point was the fact that he was going to be around for ever now. He might not be awake for most of that forever but that's beside the point.

The one thing I did have to make sure though before our relation was settled in stone was if she was fine with me using a nickname for her.

"So long as you don't call me Ka-chan, I don't care." Kara shrugged as we walked out of a burning complex, mutilated bodies littering our path.

"Oh…and you don't want to know how I came up with that nickname?" I asked, somewhat disappointed that the arguments and conversation variations I went over in my head somehow never accounted for her just plain not caring.

"The fact is," Kara paused to nudge a body she thought she saw twitch. "If it was anyone else, it wouldn't matter what they'd call me. If it was anything less than Karasuba then I'd kill them and forget they ever existed."

I just nodded. That explanation fit Kara 100%.

"That being said, you now have my interest." She said after stabbing the body just to make sure. "Why do you call me Kara?"

"I happen to know a bit about Russian, oddly enough." I said with a shrug as we walked towards the MBI helicopter. "Kara means punishment or retribution. Somehow it just seems to fit."

"Hmm, Kara…" She let the word roll around her tongue for a bit. "I like it."


	11. Gate:Timeout

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Not much changed, oddly enough when Kara and I became a couple. We still spent pretty much every single moment of our time together. We just took a more…romantic route with the time we had. Oh sure, Minaka made a fuss over the situation until Kara told him to stuff it - in much harsher terms, I think she may have even drawn a blade on him, she certainly seemed smug enough about it when she came back. Takami made an equally great fuss over the whole thing and this time it was my turn to tell her to stuff it and leave my private life to me. I don't care that this wasn't right or that Kara was a monster. Hell, I was hardly any different from her at this point after everything that has happened. In the end though, she backed off and invited me to go a club for drinks in the city. Akitsu, who came with Takami, stared at Kara and then asked if she was fine with having me as her partner. After receiving a grin and a yes she merely nodded and asked her to take care of me. I was a bit humbled by her reaction to be honest. She also decided against going with us due to her severe dislike of alcohol. Something about making her excessively hot which made a lot of sense to those who knew that she had troubles with even modest temperatures.<p>

"Takami?" An elegantly dressed man came to our table who I assumed to be a waiter. "Did something happen?"

"Bring drinks first Kagari." She growled back. "I feel the need to drink a lot right now."

The man nodded and returned a minute later with a couple big bottles of scotch and took a seat by Takami, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Apparently, Takami got us into a host club, a place where lonely women could complain about their life and be comforted by a host, who tended to be young men with golden patience and the knowledge of what to say and when. I glanced from Takami to Kagari and back again before a sly grin snaked along my lips.

"Now I know why you aren't married Takami." I drawled, attracting their attention. "Japan's laws prohibit polygamy marriages, right?"

My grin widened to near Kara lengths as both of their faces grew red and Kagari started sputtering about how he and Takami weren't like that. At which point Takami glanced at me before an evil smile claimed her lips and she claimed that if she was actually interested, not only would she get the poor guy, she'd also ensure that she'd be the only one to do so. At this point Kagari's shade of red peaked record high as we laughed at his plight.

"My, my, if it isn't Takami and our resident Sekirei Batman." A lustrous woman's voice originated from behind me and suddenly a very…voluminous woman in a tight Chinese dress that struggled to contain her assets plopped down on the last open chair and grabbed a bottle. "Scotch? I guess it'll do."

"Kazehana…" Takami spoke her name with an odd quirk in her voice. "I thought you were still traveling."

"I am." The woman nodded sagely as she poured herself a full glass. "Going to stop by Miya and Takehito's place for the night and then I am off to Australia tomorrow morning. I heard the surfers there are quite hot."

"So you are here to steal our drinks…again." Kagari watched as she poured herself a second glass.

"Yep!" The wind Sekirei downed another glass. "So, what's the party about?"

"Takami has been complaining that this Sekirei here decided to abandon her search for an Ashikabi and is instead romantically involved with another female Sekirei." Kagari summed up about 15 minutes of Takami's whining into a single sentence.

"Ooh! Forbidden love!" Kazehana squealed in delight. "Two hearts, reaching for each other, abandoning bodies and society to be together!"

"Do you happen to know Yume?" I asked, seeing an odd familiarity. Albeit Yume was a little bit tamer with hers I think…

"You bet!" Kazehana began to pour a third glass. "How is my old student anyway?"

"Dead." I said heavily, causing Kazehana to drop the glass she was about to drink in shock.

"W-what?" She stuttered going pale. "Is the game already starting?"

"No, not for another year at least." Takami said resolutely. "Although I am pushing Minaka to postpone for another couple years on top of that to let 107 and 108, who we just put into the growth tank two months ago, to grow. But the sick bastard is completely fine with having them in game as children.

"T-then how?" Kazehana's hand shook as she reached for the bottle, her hands tapping out a tune on the glass surface. Kagari also leaned in, obviously eager to learn the details about the demise of the leader of the Second Generation Disciplinary Squad.

"About a month ago, Kamikura Island was attacked." I slowly began to tell the tale, after a brief glance at Takami who responded with a nod. "Although nothing of the First Invasion scale, the Island was still assaulted by a small fleet and over a thousand marines who immediately attacked the MBI Camp. MBI managed to defend themselves but the real goal of the marines was to merely buy time while the scientists that came with them stole a couple child Sekirei and proceeded to…research them."

The audience wasn't fooled by the term I used. Kazehana's eyes narrowed and she lost the carefree look while Kagari grinded his teeth.

"Minaka decided to send the Disciplinary Squad to recover the stolen Sekirei." I continued in a monotone voice. "During the search, it was Yume who found the camp and then decided to sacrifice herself for the young bird that had her Tama damaged by the experiments she underwent."

"What happened then?" Kazehana asked after I fell silent.

"Then? Then she died and the little bird she died for recovered." I finished, not particularly eager on remembering the story. "And we found her cooling corpse as she sat there, still hunched over protectively over the child she saved."

"Wait, you were there?" Kagari suddenly interrupted, his eyes roving all over me as if he was trying to remember where he has seen me before, perhaps my mask did a better job at obscuring my face then I though.

"But of course, Homura." I drawled his surprise and worry feeding my sick joy. "I am part of the Disciplinary Squad after all."

"The Bloody Sekirei?" The newly identified Homura stood up suddenly into a tense stance. "You brought this thing here, Takami!? Are you mad?"

"Shut up." Takami said with a pacifistic air about her. "Don't talk shit about Rei."

"The MBI's Boogeyman." Kazehana muttered softly as she stared at me. "Somehow I thought you'd be a guy."

I couldn't help but snicker at the title which earned me a couple of surprised glances and an understanding one from Takami.

"I still prefer the title Spirit Walker if anyone cares." I offered my two cents into the conversation.

"Regardless!" Homura paced before us, his eyes not leaving my relaxed form. "I've seen you kill people by dozens at a time!"

"I don't recognise trash as people." I raised an eyebrow at Homura's statement. "It seems like I am unwelcome here."

"Wait…" Kazehana leaned in, an odd spark in her eyes. "Who is this Sekirei that attracted you so? It can't be…"

"Rei and Karasuba are a couple." Takami said melancholically before downing a cup of scotch in a single go.

"What." Homura stopped pacing and stared at Takami blankly even as Kazehana squealed excitedly.

"How did this happen? When?"

"After we buried Yume and Dietrich, the closest person to an Ashikabi Kara ever had." I answered, Kazehana's interest forcing me to recall bad memories.

"W-what!?" Kazehana's eyes bulged. "Lord Dietrich is dead?!"

"I'll be seeing you, Takami." I suddenly stood up and walked straight through the wall after using Soul Form in my haste to leave this company.

Gods! I don't know how Yume managed to turn out halfway decent with someone like Kazehana as her teacher. As I walked down the dark streets, I got pulled out of praising the Gods for Yume's decent – comparatively - behaviour by a pained shriek down a dark alley to my left. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Knowing my luck that was a Sekirei getting into trouble.

Turning sharply, I made down the alley to see a young woman on the ground, clutching at her face with her hands while some punk stood before her, his hands fumbling with his pants. Sighing in frustration I walked towards the bastard, my right hand on my sword hilt.

"Oi, piss off before you get some too." The punk said, not even bothering to turn around.

"Hey, are you deaf or-" He finally turned around, a large knife in his right hand only to see me walk by, sheathing my blade.

"Are you alright?" I knelt before the young girl, noticing a giant hammer lying a short distance away. Definitely a Sekirei then. The girl shook her head and suddenly jumped me, hiding her face on my armoured chest as she sobbed her stressful fear away. Behind us the punk coughed and then fell to the ground in pieces with a disgusting wet slapping sound.

I froze, unsure of what to do. This is the first time a Sekirei I saved acted in such a way. I gently wrapped my arms around her and stilled at the strange feeling I received from the gesture. Up to now, the only Sekirei I was hugged by were Yume, Akitsu and Kara.

Yume's embrace was warm, like a gentle sun on a nice day. Archive frequently likened her to a loving elder sister. Akitsu's was like a gentle coolness of an autumn day that seemed to just soothe and relax the one receiving it. Kara's embrace on the other hand was both possessive and protective, as if by hugging me she showed the world that I belonged to her and everyone else can go fuck themselves. Even at her weakest, Kara's embrace stayed the same. This girl on the other hand sought solace and protection from the cruel world in my arms.

I took a deep breath and waited for the little bird to calm down.

It took a while but finally she stopped crying and instead began to thank me profusely. I merely held her till she finally quieted down.

"What now?" She asked, her eyes turned downward.

"Why didn't you kill him or run off?" I asked the question that has been bothering me. Judging by the size of the hammer, the Sekirei in question was more than strong enough to kill him and had enough endurance to outrun him if she could carry that abomination around.

"He…he was an Ashikabi." The little bird whispered. "I couldn't do anything when he came close, I…I…the heat, the feeling, it was too much."

"Huh, so that trash was actually an Ashikabi." I glanced behind me at the sliced corpse. "Pathetic."

"And you." I turned to the girl who cringed a bit. "You need to run as fast as you can next time you even begin having the same feelings."

"B-but…"

"If you feel that the Ashikabi in question is your True Ashikabi," I smirked. "Then stalk them. See what they are like, if they are worthy of you. If the answer is a negative, then abandon them and continue your search as they obviously weren't _your_ Ashikabi."

"I…" The girl gently unwound herself from me and rose up, only to bow deeply. "Thank you, I will do as you say."

"Hmm." I smirked, some human was in for a surprise. "Good luck, little bird."

"Thank you." She finally lifted her face and smiled at me her gray eyes shining with new found determination. "Umm…who are you?"

"I am known as number 51, Rei." I stood up to see the girl's eyes grow huge.

"T-the Bloody Sekirei!" She suddenly bowed again. "I am honored!"

"Tch." I reached over and ruffled her soft brown hair. "Go already, and don't get into more trouble."

She nodded and jumped off, heading for the roof. I, on the other hand, decided to go out on the streets and take the long way home. Never know just what one might stumble on through these darkened streets, hmm?

I stared at the scene in front of me and was debating on slamming my head against the wall for my stupidity. Of course I would tempt fate with my earlier thoughts, right? Although, I must admit, this was a first for me. I've ran into plenty of situations where the Sekirei gets ambushed/mugged/assaulted/etc but this is the first time where someone decides to use a Sekirei to assault someone instead. For me anyway. And it might turn out to be the last time for a certain black haired bastard standing in front of me with a superior smirk, with a Sekirei standing by his side holding a claymore in her hands.

I wondered how she carried around the thing; it was more than 1.5 times her size. It also looked very weird on a Sekirei dressed as a schoolgirl. Did her Ashikabi make her wear this?

"You want me," I pointed at myself just to make sure. "To give you all of my money?"

"What, are you deaf you dumbass?" The guy sneered, his face just begging for some corrective work via my fist. "Maybe I should order Mai here to fix that for you, maybe with that head of yours too."

"Hmm…" I hummed as I surveyed the trash. "I did just kill 1 punk, maybe it's my fate tonight to kill more?"

"W-what was that?" The guy twitched at my calm tone and leaned forward aggressively. "I think it's time for you to learn some manners! Mai!"

"Very well…" Mai sighed dejectedly as she charged me, claymore posed to cleave me in 2. I was going to just gate into Soul Form and walk away but then I figured why not? I've never actually fought a Sekirei aside from Kara and Yume and those are just practise duels…very serious and deadly practise duels. I was quite surprised by the force of her blow when I blocked her claymore with my right sword, my left dashing forward towards her unprotected chest. I almost couldn't block it and that's with my superior strength.

Mai leaned back, avoiding my blade easily and quickly spun around, her claymore crashing down on me again. This time I decided to dash backwards instead and looked at my opponent apprehensively. Mai twirled her gigantic blade at me once more, seemingly uncaring for the stress her body must be feeling from lugging that chunk of metal around. If anything, I'd guess what ever her power is it's negating the effects. Any Sekirei can technically wield that sword of hers but very few have the strength or power to do it with any degree of viability.

"I am impressed." I admitted after 5 minutes of being chased around by Mai, occasionally reverting the roles when I decided to go on offensive. "You are pretty good Mai."

"What the fuck are you?" Her Ashikabi paled progressively over the fight, apparently not used to the fact that there was something that Mai couldn't defeat.

"Number 51, Rei of the Disciplinary Squad." I answered easily and then knocked the blade out of Mai's hands, the shock of who she was fighting causing her to weaken her grip. "Ah…it's over already?"

"M-mai!" The punk's eyes widened in horror at the sight of his Sekirei with my blades at her throat in a scissors manner.

"Mmm, I wonder if I should perhaps do exactly what you wanted your Sekirei to do with me?" I mused in a carefree voice, my eyes on the shaking Ashikabi. I wonder if you are redeemable? Can you become worthy of my kin?

"W-wait!" The guy dashed forward and grabbed my blades pushing them away from his Sekirei. I was surprised enough to let him do it. Meanwhile he posed himself in front of his shocked Sekirei, his bloody hands spread wide to cover her. "Please don't! If you must, hit me, Mai only followed my orders!"

"…Idiot." I sheathed my swords with a sigh. "If I kill you, your Sekirei will die with you."

"H-huh!?" The moron in question turned to stare at his Sekirei. "I-is this true Mai?"

"I'd suggest you look into your situation first, fool." I tossed some advice at him as I walked off, not bothering to even look at my opponents. "It'll save your life and the life of your girl in the future."

What a disappointing end to a promising night.


	12. Gate:Jinki

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Kara and I were walking in a part of Shinto Teito, just relaxing in the evening sun on a holiday from missions. Lately, the amount of missions we got increased so much that rarely did a week pass by without at least one. Considering that a mission on average took between 1 to 3 days and we demanded a day's worth of rest after each one, our timeline was rather busy. So one would understand our severe irritation when suddenly both Kara's and my phones began to ring. Only Minaka ever did that.<p>

"What?" Kara asked with an irate tone after flipping open her phone. "This better be something damn important for you to interrupt our day off."

"But of-" The White Clown began his usual grand entrance before he was interrupted by an angry Takami.

"Shut up you Clown and let me do the talking." At this point we noticed something was odd. They weren't moving. The picture was being taken by the ceiling camera so we saw Minaka and Takami stand still with 5 kids of varying ages around them.

"I need you to get Takehito here, this stupid moron right here just messed around with a Jinki and it paralyzed us." Takami stated as she glared at Minaka who would've ran off squealing like a little girl if he could as much as twitch. "Takehito is one of very few who understands this thing and how it works and he is the only one in the city at the moment."

"Oh?" Kara smirked, amused at their troubles. "Didn't he retire to live with Miya who threatened to kill any MBI employees who step foot in her house?"

"Yes, but we need an expert here right now." Takami insisted. "I don't know what this retard did and he might've set off the ship's self-destruct sequence for all we know. That is why we need a Jinki expert and Takehito is the only one in Shinto Teito right now."

"Very well, we are on our way." I answered for both of us and we began to make our way to the Izumo Inn that Takehito and Miya Asama owned.

* * *

><p>"Does she always greet her guests like so?" I asked Takehito who turned out to be a handsome man in his prime wearing a traditional style kimono.<p>

"Karasuba mostly." He answered in a pleasant baritone as we watched Miya - a purple haired woman in a miko's outfit - and Kara argue, Miya violently and Kara sarcastically.

"Well, while Kara does her part," I turned to my target. "I think I shall do mine and take you away."

"What does Minaka want me for?" He asked after glancing at the haori I draped over my shoulders like a cape.

"According to Takami," I said coming closer and beginning to plan where to grab him and how to transport him." He was screwing around with a Jinki and did something that made them all paralyzed."

"Of course he would." He sighed and then quickly said before I grabbed him. "Not over the shoulder!"

I merely shrugged and took off, carrying him like a princess. While in transit, he contacted Takami and began to troubleshoot the situation, his face getting paler by the minute.

"He activated some sort of self-destruct system didn't he?" I groaned.

"Worse, he somehow triggered an area-of-effect deactivation protocol which would deactivate – kill basically – all Sekirei and Ashikabi in the immediate area." Takehito answered while at the same time face palming. "How did he even do that, I thought it took all 8 Jinki for that feature to even become available."

"You can fix this, right?" I glanced at him even as the MBI tower grew closer.

"Thankfully, a single Jinki doesn't have the power required to do more than kill everything in a short radius and this is after a significant delay to accumulate enough energy." Takehito explained as we began to jump up the tower, MBI had a series of ledges installed for Disciplinary Squad to come and go to their level quickly.

"As of now it's still powering up and depending on how much time we have I'll implement a solution."

"What if I were to send it to the Spirit Realm?" I offered as we reached the Disciplinary Squad level. "As far as we've experimented, nothing can get through the barrier between Living and Spirit Realms but me."

"You can do what?" Takehito stared at me in wonder as we entered the elevator which sped us up to the final floor.

"This is definitely a possibility." Takehito said as he ran his arm through me in a vain attempt to grab something while I was in Spirit Form. "Yes, let me tinker with it and then you can take it to this Spirit Realm as a precaution."

And just like that we burst into Minaka's office, everything still exactly as when the White Clown called Kara and me. We have Minaka in his usual pose, with a hand outstretched holding a crystal of some sort. Then we have Takami, frozen in mid-swing, her tablet en route to Minaka's face. And finally, we have 5 kids of various ages standing in a loose circle around the two of them.

Takehito wasted no time in snatching the crystal from Minaka and began to tap it in an order known only to him. Occasionally he'd twist and the crystal would shift to a different edge alignment with a unique series of clicks. As I watched, still in Soul Form, somehow he understood those clicks and his face grew grimmer.

"Hey Takami, where's Akitsu?" I asked, stopping before Takami and eyeing her posture with a light grin.

"I got her to stay behind and supervise the final preparations for departure of latest batch." Takami replied. "Thank the gods too; I'd rather not have her here if things are as serious as Takehito states."

"Rei." He called over. "I don't have time for anything but an alignment switch. When this thing goes off it will now instead strike out at anything non-Sekirei or Ashikabi, like myself."

I nodded and drew a small circle around the Jinki. I found that some of my abilities gained an alternate effect when used while in Spirit Realm as opposed to Living Realm. For instance, Gate:Swap swapped only a single object it actually touched rather than an area. The time the object stays in the Spirit Realm increases dramatically however. After taking it to the other side I quickly jumped back into the Living Realm, just in time to see the crystal pulse and give off a shaky muted blast of red energy.

The best way I could find to describe Gate:Swap was that if one was to in visualize the 2 realms as layer of water and oil, they'd separate out and never mix if undisturbed. What Gate:Swap did was grab a bubble of say oil – Living Realm - and hold it in water – Spirit Realm – until the ability has no more power to hold the bubble in place at which point it gets pushed out, back into its usual state. It was a little strange how going from Living Realm to Spirit Realm grabbed a big bubble which drained the energy the ability had much faster than the significantly smaller bubble – just enough for 1 comparatively small object – I could grab from Living Realm to Spirit Realm while I was in Spirit Realm. The closest explanation I could find was that when I went from Living Realm to Spirit Realm with Gate:Swap, I myself tore a much larger opening in the border between the realms which resulted in a lot more things getting sucked up as a result. While in Spirit Form the gate I opened was significantly smaller as it didn't have to account for me to get through – just whatever I was trying to drag in.

"Huh." I stared at the ghostly, see-through crystal that hanged in midair, exactly in the position it used to hold when I was still there, in Soul Form. "I didn't know I could do that."

"Excellent job, Takehito and Rei!" Minaka bounced around, finally free of the paralysis. His joy didn't last long though, as Takami unfroze next.

Somehow, Takehito and I turned into a wall behind which the kids cowered as they saw Takami beat Minaka into a bloody pulp screaming something about this being the reason why she had white hair.

"Hey Takami." Takehito watched with amusement as his onetime boss turned into a giant tenderized Meat Popsicle. "What was he trying to do with the Jinki anyway?"

"This-fucking-moron," Each word was punctuated with a Minaka scream before she finally had enough and stopped, just an inch short of actually killing the fool. "Tried to accelerate the growth of these Sekirei with a Jinki to start the Sekirei Plan early because he was god damn bored."

"Somehow, I am disappointed you beat this Clown to an inch of his life." I deadpanned as everyone stared at me incredulously. "This now prevents me from adding my share."

"So what are you going to do now with the kids?" Takehito asked Takami after we all finished laughing.

"What else is there to do?" Takami lit a cigarette. "106, 107 and 108 will go back into growth tubes; they are just far too young still. 104 and 105 on the other hand…"

She took a deep breath and stared hard at the oldest of the brats. I followed her gaze to find a pink haired girl with an odd flame in her dark red eyes and a gray haired girl who was currently poking the twitching remnants of Minaka.

"They haven't undergone Initiation yet but Minaka wants to groom them into a replacement for Yume." Takami finally stated, her cigarette nearly done.

"He realizes it's not possible, right?" This time, I truly deadpanned. "Yume was literally one of a kind cheat. No normally adjusted Sekirei could ever even hope to match her."

"Hey!" The pink haired girl stood up straighter and glared at me. "I don't know about her, but I am no weakling!"

"Oh?" I tilt my head a little to the right, staring at the girl with a smouldering flame in her eyes.

"Yes, we are not weak." The gray haired girl stood up slowly and turned to face me, her hair covering one of her eyes.

"But you are not Yume." I stated clearly, could they not understand this simple truth?

"We can be better!" The pink haired one said passionately.

This…this...

"Umm…" Takehito coughed into his hand as they all watched me fall to the floor in a clatter of armour, laughing my ass off.

"Better…then…Yume…" I squeezed out of myself as I began to cry from laughing so hard.

"What's so funny?" Pinky fumed.

"Ah…that was the best laugh I had in ages." I finally got up and used my mask to wipe the tears off my face. "Thank you."

"As much as I appreciated the laugh, I have better things to do Takami." I grabbed Takehito and proceeded to the elevator. "Nice seeing you and do tell Akitsu hi for me would you? If you're still around tomorrow, let's go for drinks!"

"Why…you…" Pinky growled and then rushed me as I walked on. "Don't ignore me!"

I shifted a little and suddenly the girl slammed her fist into a pillar which turned out to be harder than her fist. Hearing her bones break I smiled a little. Perhaps, after she finishes final adjustments, it would be worthwhile to take another look.

A roar and a sudden danger alarm from my instincts shook me out of my thoughts. I turned and blocked a punch from the pink haired girl with my gauntlet, an angry red aura engulfing her fist. So powerful were the blow and the shockwave that followed it that I even slid back half a foot. The energy management of said ability was piss poor though, as excess power erupted from her back in a parody of jet fire or dark red wings.

"Impressive." I stared at the panting girl who clutched her right arm in pain, blood dripping down it. "You managed to intrigue me, girl."

"I'll see you later, Benitsubasa." I teased the girl with a nickname I made up on the spot. "Perhaps you'll even interest Kara."

And with that, we were gone; the final sight of the girl was the determination in her eyes that stared into mine even as the door closed.


	13. Gate:Kamikura

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…"<p>

"…"

We stared at Kara and Miya arguing exactly as we left off, I don't think they even noticed us gone. I patted Takehito on the shoulder and nodded in a 'see-you-around' matter. He smiled back and made his way over to Miya's side.

"Kara, we are done, let's go finish our walk." I walked up to Kara and Miya with a smile.

"Oh?" Kara suddenly dropped her conversation with Miya and turned away from her without a care. "About time, I was beginning to run out of arguments. I see that it turned out a false alarm of sorts?"

"Actually, no." Takehito answered as he stood by Miya's side who immediately began to fuss over him. "Minaka turned on area wide deactivation pulse and I am still not sure how he did it. I only had time to switch the alignment out of Sekirei/Ashikabi to everything non-Sekirei related."

"But, that'd mean-!" Miya paled rapidly.

"I am fine, Miya, thanks to Rei here." Takehito held Miya gently as he gave me a smile. "She transported the Jinki to the Sprit Realm where it went off without an effect."

Both Miya and Kara gave me a glance. Miya's been full of relief and thanks while Kara's was…more difficult to interpret.

"Speaking of which, it didn't seem to come back, are you going to return it to Minaka?" Takehito asked me.

"Umm…I can't viably undo Gate:Swap." I shifted my balance to my left leg as my right began to draw circles in the dust. "Minaka will just have to wait until the effect ends and the Jinki returns naturally."

Kara laughed as the duo in front of us grew confused.

"And when will this be?" Miya asked in a gentle manner.

"Anywhere from months to years." Kara grinned only as she could, a vicious sort of triumph in the gesture. "Rei just bought us time, delaying the Sekirei Plan you caused to happen."

"I did not-"

"I don't care about your excuses." Kara interrupted her with a sneer. "Let's go Rei."

And just like that we walked off, Kara listening as I told her everything that happened in detail. Kara had a few laughs, especially at Minaka's effort to replace Yume and, as expected, grew interested in meeting Benitsubasa, her spontaneous initiation intriguing her greatly. Later, as we walked home, Kara motioned us to stop and turned to look at me seriously.

"Why did you save Takehito?"

"Because he's an expert in Jinki." I said seriously. "I've had plans for them, but now that I know I could lock these gods forsaken control devices away his importance only grows. Holding the Jinki hostage with an expert in them whose life I own…"

"Minaka won't stand for this you know." Kara replied coming a little bit closer and tracing a line on my armoured chest casually. "He'll force you into hiding in Spirit Realm for ever if you deliberately target Jinki."

"I am sure we could arrange a couple accidents here and there." I smiled at Kara gently. "But even if I am to be stuck in Soul Form, it would be passible so long as I can stay by your side."

Kara smiled and leaned in, kissing me beneath the dim lights given off by park lamps.

"We should take a vacation." Kara suddenly said next morning as we lay together. "I want to see this Benitsubasa…and Yume."

"I don't see why not." I shrugged and reached for the phone that lay on the bedside table. "Minaka should use Specialists more often; some of the missions we got lately are so weak that a human could've done them."

Kara yawned and nodded in agreement as I began calling Takami.

"W-what…" A ragged form of Takami picked up the phone, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Kara and I are coming over; she wants to see Benitsubasa and the girl Yume saved."

"Ah, Musubi? Sure I guess…" She yawned again and dropped her head back onto the pillow, not even bothering to end the call. I smiled at the scene; Takami was literally a zombie in early mornings and would generally force herself awake with liters of coffee. Considering this was a Saturday, perhaps she wanted to sleep in a bit which made me feel a bit guilty now. Takami, on general, worked anywhere from 16 to 20 hours straight a day because there was just so much to oversee that had absolutely 0 error leniency.

She adopted this sort of work ethic after the disastrous screw up that happened to the now former number 7, Akitsu, who somehow self-winged after an adjuster error. Speaking of which, I should probably drop by and visit the calm, frigid Sekirei that I treated as a sister. Now that I think about it, the only person Takami explicitly trusts to cover for her is Akitsu and no one else. I wonder just what Akitsu had to undergo to get her knowledge and skills to that level where she rivaled Takami, the person who dedicated her whole life to this.

Getting Minaka's permission was easy. We dropped into his Intensive Recovery Ward room and said that we are taking a vacation to Kamikura Island. He was very receptive of this on the grounds that he was still in a medically induced coma. And so, without any actual packing, we got on a helicopter and took off to the Island we were born on.

"My my, if it isn't the Crow." I was surprised to see the familiar grinning face of Leroy who greeted us at the helipad. "Fancy seeing you here, after so many years."

"Leroy." Kara stared at him and began to pull out her blade slowly. "I warned you didn't I?"

The man's smile grew very dangerous and somehow two very large pistols appeared in his hands.

"Why, I believe you did. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and walked away from the sporadic gunfire, gun on sword clashes and maniacal laughter. Just where the hell did MBI get insanely skilled people like this? Emphasis on the insane part. I once again underlined my opinion that I was surrounded by very abnormal people when I underwent basic training on Kamikura. Even Leroy, who by all means should've been exactly who he looked like: a gun-ho sarcastic prick with big mouth, actually was a lot more than just that. I've read the Kamikura Invasion report on his activity there. The man's final kill count was enough corpses to make a battalion and he did this with just his pistols and a shit ton of ammo. The fact that he also regularly charged into melee range and then proceeded to walk out of the whole mess with nary a scratch…

I could see why Takami had him take over Dietrich's responsibilities.

"Ah…Rei." Akitsu rubbed her hands on my armoured back gently as I embraced her. "Thank you for saving Takami."

"You don't need to thank me for something I'd have moved heaven and hell to do." I snickered as I buried my face into her hair that smelled like fallen leaves and autumn in general. "Turns out I got sometime before Kara finishes having fun with Leroy, so let's talk."

Akitsu nodded slowly and we found ourselves in her rather cold office. I didn't particularly care as my solid armour kept me warm and Akitsu actually liked cold temperatures. I think it has something to do with the faulty way she was adjusted. The office itself was rather empty, a big table littered with papers and what looked like schematics and a small bed by the window were pretty much it. There was also a small bookcase filled with books whose titles made 0 sense to me and I just took Archive's explanation that they were all advanced science studies and rolled with it.

We spent the next hour, before a smirking Kara found us, talking about the latest news and what Akitsu was doing lately. What I really loved about Akitsu was that she knew that I didn't understand jack about any of this science terminology and worded her sentences so that I could understand what she was trying to say. Sort of like Takami but slower. Anyway, from her I learned that they were about to wake Sekirei 81 to 92 and that that meant that there was only 1 batch left after this one. There is also the 'misplaced' batch or so Takami calls it which consists for 87, 88, 104, 105, 106, 107 and 108 who, for various reasons, were taking longer than normal to get adjusted. In fact, according to Akitsu, the misplaced batch will probably be released sometime with the final batch if not later.

Interested, I asked her to give a quick summary of why for each one and Kara sat down, her own interest showing.

"When numbers 87 and 88 were forced out of their growth tubes, we found that somehow they still grew at an accelerated pace and although we managed to stabilize them so they don't age into death, they cannot be put into growth tubes anymore. This forces us to teach them manually which takes longer than usual." Akitsu began before I interrupted her with frown.

"Wait, what do you mean teaching manually? Wasn't I taught manually?"

"Ah, but you have Archive." Akitsu nodded slowly. "Normal Sekirei are taught in growth tubes via induced dreaming but you for some reason only had Archive. Still, this allowed you to learn much faster than the manual method where we actually must teach the Sekirei the knowledge required piece by piece."

"What can you tell us about number 88, Musubi?" Kara leaned in, her interest in the fate of Yume's vessel clear.

"Musubi…" Akitsu closed her eyes briefly. "An excitable girl with battle lust and unfortunate habit of not caring one bit for her studies. Although she possess Yume's core, she only uses her own restored core which is in permanent synchronization with Yume. She is a melee fighter, much like Yume but, unlike her, does not possess any long range attacks. Up to this point, we have not received a single piece of data that suggests that Yume's core does anything more than sleep."

"Have you tried waking her?" Kara's excitement grew as she stood up and took a step to Akitsu who merely watched her.

"Yes. There was no reaction to anything we've tried." Akitsu cooled off Kara's mood. "The only viable theory so far is that she is in a Sekirei equivalent of a coma right now and only time or a Jinki can wake her."

"Have you tried using a Jinki on her?" I asked before Kara could.

"Yes, the amount we have though is not sufficient for the feature required." Akitsu tilted her head forward slightly. "I believe that in order to do such fine control all 8 Jinki will be required in a single place."

"Tch, figures." Kara sat back down, frowning.

"Anyone else worthy of notice?" I asked to break the heavy silence.

"Yes, number 105, who you named Benitsubasa has requested to train manually rather than to sleep in her pod." Akitsu spoke. "Her friend, number 104, requested to do the same and has received the name Haihane after her initiation."

Her voice changed slightly towards the end, something troubling her.

"Oh? The girl decided to keep the name Rei gave to her?" Kara stretched, an amused smile appearing on lips.

"Yes, she stated that she'll grow strong enough to make the Reaper acknowledge her." Akitsu nodded.

"…another nickname now?" I sighed in exasperation.

"This one is actually official designation from Minaka." Akitsu shrugged. "Speak with him if you don't like it. As of a month ago, your official name is number 51, Rei, the Reaper."

I bowed my head in resignation. Why, of all the possible time, did Minaka pick now to get obliterated by Takami when I wanted to do the exact thing to him…?

"Moving on," I could practically feel Kara's amusement roll off her in waves. "This Benitsubasa, do you feel like she could make the cut?"

"Now? No." Akitsu shook her head. "In a year or two of intense training if she keeps it up? Yes."

"Do you want to take her in Kara?" I glanced over at the Black Sekirei who pondered the proposition.

"I want to see her, test her." She finally decided and with that we followed Akitsu to the training grounds.

"Haaagh!" The pink haired teen leapt at the training pillar, shattering it into practically dust with her fist as pale red flames erupted from her back briefly. Beside her stood her gray haired friend with gigantic claws that extended her arms to practically drag on the ground, bending her back with their weight. Haihane concentrated for a moment and then dashed past another pillar, her strangely shimmering claws drawing an X on the pillar. A second later, the pillar slid into pieces, sliced up and mangled. They both panted for a bit, regaining strength until Haihane noticed our incoming group.

"Ah, Benitsubasa, we got company." She pointed at us with her claw.

"You!" The smaller girl shouted as soon as she saw my face and then charged at me head on, his fist glowing red. Seeing a faint smile on my face, Akitsu and Kara stepped to the sides as the girl dashed straight through me, her swing unbalancing her and dropping her on her ass after a spin.

"W-wha-" She froze as my blade touched her throat.

"Is that any way to greet your betters?" I smiled widely my mask off for once, as the girl turned sickly gray from paling so much. Sometimes I think I draw too much of Kara into myself. Then I remember how fun it is to troll people. "Perhaps you won't be needing that empty head of yours if you aren't using it, hmm?"

As the young girl fainted, I heard clash of steel and turned to see Haihane doing her best to even scratch Kara who stood on one spot and parried everything Haihane threw at her with obvious laze.

"So? How is she?" I asked.

"Mmm…not bad, if nothing else." Kara shrugged nonchalantly as she sent the smaller girl flying with a riposte, shards of broken claws glimmering in the sun. "But it'll be a long while before she turns into anything noteworthy."

"W-what are you…" Haihane sat up with a groan and stared at Kara with fear.

"I am number 4, Karasuba." Kara introduced herself with a mocking smile.

"Karasuba, Rei." Akitsu walked up to us silently. "I suggest that you show a real battle tomorrow. I find the lack of reality troubling for the Sekirei about to be released. They do not know what they are going in for and will simply die."

"I see no problem with that Akitsu." I nodded. "Let them see just what awaits them on the other side, I and Kara can show it easily."

Kara merely nodded and then we walked off to the house we'll be settling in for the next couple days.


	14. Gate:Recruitment

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>Kara, I, Akitsu, Takami and Leroy – bandaged in a couple places but grinning his head off – stood before about a dozen young girls who stared at with wide, innocent eyes with the exception of Benitsubasa who stared at me with fiery determination and Haihane who warily watched Kara.<p>

"Listen up!" Takami stepped forward and called for attention. "You are lucky, for today we have number 51, Rei and number 4, Karasuba from MBI Disciplinary Squad here to show you what a real fight between two mature Sekirei is like."

"Maybe after seeing this, you pathetic lot will pull your heads out of your asses and finally start doing something." Leroy sneered at the girls before him, his contempt for their lack of effort evident.

"Akitsu, if you would please." Takami turned to her Sekirei who nodded and created an icy set of staggered platforms for the girls to sit on. They then cleared the area, leaving only me and Kara standing, facing each other.

"I say we start off slowly." I offered, not bothering to keep my voice down. "They won't have the skill to see what's going on at our full speeds."

"Mmm, sure." Kara leisurely agreed, not caring to pay attention to an angered mutter that the crowd of girls raised. We drew our blades, Kara's standard MBI nodachi while I pulled out my twin Sekirei longswords. For a moment we stood still and then -.

By our definition, slow meant that we only moved slightly below the speeds at which a typical human eye will only see a blur. The girls all shut up as we danced in a shower of sparks and dust, our strikes constantly parried, dodged or shifted. I, in my usual style, simply ignored all strikes that would land on my armour at a glancing angle and deflected only those who would hit me head on. Kara on the other hand had to dodge, parry or deflect every single strike I threw with my blades, however, her skills were more than enough to do so while at the same time attacking me with sharp, deadly blows.

Slowly, we began to weave in our abilities into the mix. The crowd gasped the first time pale blue lines began to litter the air, fabric of space hurriedly stitching itself back. In turn, Kara's blows began to pound me into the ground as she fed her power into her blows. Soon our battle accelerated to speeds at which all any human would see is a blur and judging by the cries of shock, so did a big part of these Sekirei. Finally, after 10 minutes of this prelude, we began our fighting in earnest, taking ourselves to our limits. Or, rather, I tried to strain my limits as Kara merely took the fight seriously.

At this point I doubt any observers except for Leroy and Akitsu actually saw what was going on and not the after effects like continuous shockwaves, spark showers, dust plumes, craters and blue lines crisscrossing everything. Finally, 15 minutes since the start of our spar, I couldn't keep up anymore and Kara instantly pounced on my stumble to send me flying into the icy podium, shattering the thing into icicles that buried me. I phased through them all and walked over to Kara in my Soul Form, breathing heavily. Kara on the other hand merely grinned as always, only a light sag in posture revealing that she was relaxing after a serious fight. I glanced back at the girls crowding on the still standing part of the podium and mirrored Kara's grin. Each one of them sported the expression 'how am I supposed to fight these guys in the future!?' There were a couple exceptions though. Although Benitsubasa looked as white as a sheet, the determination in her eyes didn't go anywhere which pleased me strangely. Haihane also stared at us with an odd look but she didn't show fear, only an intense sense of hunger of all things. And then there was also another girl, one that looked practically like Yume, who bounced up and down in barely controlled excitement, as if she couldn't wait to fight us.

"Thank you, for letting us watch your training exercise." Akitsu thanked us, serious as always as she, Takami and Leroy came closer.

"No big deal." Kara waved her away. "Not like we used anything actually dangerous or powerful so this is fine."

I glanced at the girls who were listening to every word and grinned. Some of them actually fainted from the notion that what we did here wasn't all that impressive by our standards. Some of them looked at us incredulously, unable to accept that fact. The fools, if I or Kara actually fought with full strength here with our powers we'd destroy half the island. My latest abilities I've uncovered and honed would've done most of the damage. Unlike Kara who is aimed at assassinations and single target combat, I've developed most of my abilities to be area-of-effect in an attempt to at least clip Kara in our day to day duels. Abilities like Gate:Random for instance, which happens to be my favourite, randomly swaps slices of Living Realm with Spirit Realm and what would happen to a person if suddenly half of his torso happens to be in another reality? The answer is rather messy and the last time I've used this ability we had to swim back to shore as Kara grumbled at me for sinking an aircraft carrier our target was on. Gate:Random is merely one out of several more basic abilities and then there were several which really screwed with people's minds. Like Gate:Marble which bent the world around itself, locking the targets in a sphere of Realms, confusing the shit out of anyone inside as it was rather difficult to tell which part of you was where at the time and considering only Spirit can touch Spirit and only Living can touch Living… It was also quite freaky in what it allowed those who understood how it works to do. I once used it phase a soldier's heart straight out of his body while watching as another accidently phased his own brain out his skull when trying to adjust his helmet.

Albeit my abilities took a LOT of thought and theory behind them to get, once I figured out how they worked I was pleasantly surprised by just what I could do. Still, in the end, I always lost. I just wasn't able to keep up with Kara and had to either retreat into the Spirit Realm or take a beating.

As I was thinking I kind of zoned out everyone and missed out on Takami's speech, Leroy's taunts and came back only in time for Akitsu to finish her quiet dismissal. While the children hurried off to leave, I was surprised to see Benitsubasa walk towards us with determination, Haihane right behind her. We watched as they came close and then Benitsubasa clutched at the hems of her red and black dress and stated.

"Please, teach us. We want to be strong like you, stronger even!"

We all glanced at each other and then Takami and Leroy shrugged, giving me and Kara the choice while Akitsu merely watched.

"You know, I spent 2 years…" I paused, stunned by the revelation. "Huh…it's been 2 years already."

"Anyway, I spent 2 years getting destroyed by a superior foe. I fought, bled and sacrificed much to get to where I am now and I am still nowhere near Kara's strength." I stared at the duo seriously. "Are you prepared to invest so much while realizing that you may never actually surpass us?"

"Khmm, to be honest, Rei." Kara laughed. "It's not that you haven't been growing, it's the fact that I grew with you. Had you fought the me from 2 years ago, I would've lost."

"We are fine with never beating you." Benitsubasa stated. "Doesn't mean we'll give up trying though and it definitely doesn't mean we don't want to at least get to the level where we can give you a decent fight!"

"And what of you, Haihane?" Akitsu asked suddenly, her melancholic voice startling us all. "So far, I've only seen Benitsubasa actually want this, so why are you here?"

"I want power." Haihane turned her black eyes to Kara. "I don't care if I'll never defeat you. I just want to be powerful. I want others to look at me as they did at you today and I want them to be in awe. To fear me, to look at me as if I was a Goddess manifest upon this world."

I looked at Kara and saw that now; there was no way Kara would pass up training up what seems like her copy. Which meant that I'd have to grab Beni with me too. Then I thought of her possible training schedule and a sadistic leer appeared on my face that made the poor girl flinch.

"We'll take them." I glanced at Kara to see a slight nod. "Pack their stuff, we are going home tomorrow."

"…"

"What?" Kara asked as she climbed into my bed later in the night. After we sent Benitsubasa and Haihane off with Akitsu, I went to talk with Takami while Kara skulked off somewhere and only now came back, nearly ten hours later.

"Tch, I visited the brat."

"Yume?" I opened both eyes now and stared at Kara intently.

"…I couldn't sense her." Kara turned her eyes to the ceiling. "It truly is as Akitsu said."

"We'll see her again, one way or another." I told her with 0 doubt in my voice and then shifted over to pull her towards me, sighing in content at the feel of her warmth.

"One way…" Kara whispered as I fell asleep and then huffed causing me to smile. "Too long."

"Living here will be quite simple." I did the honours of acting a glorified tourist guide as Kara had to go on a mission the moment we returned. Minaka wasn't particularly happy with our vacation but to him the fact that we accepted Benitsubasa and Haihane as apprentices was more than worth the trouble. He started spewing some garbage about how this '3rd generation Disciplinary Squad will be the best' or something like that as I didn't bother listening to him and just left instead. At the moment I and the two young Sekirei just entered our floor.

"Each one of you will have a door engraved with your symbol. Do not enter other Sekirei's rooms without permission." I told them sternly as we walked over to the rooms' side of the floor. "Kara may have accepted you as students but if you end up in her room by accident or otherwise, you might as well save yourselves the pain and jump through the window."

"Umm, you call Karasuba, Kara, why?" Haihane asked after they tossed their things into 2 unmarked rooms.

"Because she lets me." I answered simply. "If you try calling her anything but Karasuba, your demise would be extremely painful and inevitable."

The duo gulped at my carefree tone that accentuated my words.

"What's in this room?" Benitsubasa tried to break the uncomfortable silence and pointed at the door emblazoned with a Sekirei symbol inside a golden sun.

"That's…Yume's room." I said sadly before shaking myself and continuing. "If we catch you so much as standing near it, there might not be anything left of you to clean up."

"Umm…anything else we should know about that's incredibly dangerous in this place?" Haihane asked, paled and shaking.

"Not really." I answered and they breathed a sigh of relief. "You are not welcome in my room either, but I won't really kill you for it. Just hurt you. A lot."

Messing with the 2 shaking girls was quite fun, truth being told.

"We will not be actively teaching you." I stated as we all sat at the table, Kara still on her mission.

"What?"

"Why?"

The duo chorused confusion and fear on their faces.

"Because we don't know how to." I poured myself a glass of red wine. "All we'll give you is an unbeatable sparring partner against whom you are welcome to try anything and everything and push your limits. We will also provide you live practise against armed and mostly dangerous humans and we will give you constructive critique whenever we feel like it."

I leant back and took a sip, enjoying their lost expressions.

"You are here, to push yourself. To train against a foe you cannot hope to defeat at your current level. I found that if you are trying your best in a life or death situation – which, coincidentally, will be every single morning spar against us – that is when you get the best ideas, the best results."


	15. Gate:Benitsubasa

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…I am sorry, what did you just say?" I turned to the ID field operative who gulped and turned sickly white. We, that is, the operative, I and Benitsubasa, were currently sitting in a masked van a block outside the hotel at which our target stayed. The ID curator who oversaw this mission had ensured me that this would be a simple one, just what was needed to ease Benitsubasa into our duty as a member of the Disciplinary Squad. Although, at this point I am thinking of talking to Kara about renaming it to MBI Black Ops Squad as there'd literally be no difference. Or Smersh – the legendary Russian 'Death to Spies' counter-intelligence section Archive was so fond of. Regardless, we practically went around and killed anyone who threatened us – the Sekirei – or the MBI. So, spies and traitors mostly, occasionally we would also intercept other Black Ops operations in Shinto Teito.<p>

Hmm, I think I am getting off track, I mused as I surveyed the operative who was so white that he practically turned green.

"Would you run that past me again please?" I offered him a smile, not that he could see it behind my mask.

"T-there's a cartel meeting in that hotel." The operative gulped and hesitantly continued. "From what I've been able to find out, there are 6 major bosses attending and so far the Intel on their plans suggests that they are here to party, play casino and talk business with the traitor."

"And the guards on duty?" I leaned against the van's side carefully.

"E-each boss brought along several dozen guards and on top of this the hotel is operated by a very reputable retired mob boss who also has several dozen guards to secure peace. Overall, the estimated opposing force is around 100-150 men."

"…This was supposed to be an easy mission?" Benitsubasa rubbed her hands nervously. "How the hell are we supposed to get through that many guards?"

"So long as they don't have artillery or heavy weapons, it doesn't matter how many men they have – they are merely walking dead without sufficient tools required to take on a Sekirei." I reflected melancholically, thinking about the situation. Contrary to what I just said to Benitsubasa, it all depends on the Sekirei in question. Against someone of Kara's caliber, nothing short of heavy artillery and possibly missile strikes is guaranteed to bring her down. It doesn't matter how many men are on the opposing side, Kara would kill them all with equal ease. And then there are several Sekirei who can cheat and even a nuclear strike isn't a guarantee when dealing with them. I happen to be one of those, due to Soul Form. Of course the moment I leave Soul Form I'd instantly die from radiation but who cares about details, right?

On the other hand, against someone like Benitsubasa who doesn't have any inherent abilities nor the skills to protect herself, tossing a dozen men with machine guns is a viable solution as with that many bullets going in her general direction, injury and eventual death is a guarantee. This poses a big problem because there is going to be a lot more than just a dozen men with automatic weapons guarding the person we are after. It's not just the fact that they pose actual danger to us, the fact is that they will slow us down long enough for the target to be evacuated, thus causing us to fail the mission.

Truthfully, this isn't the hardest mission I've ever faced and I could do this alone. But that's the problem, this is Benitsubasa's fist mission, I can't leave her out of this, she'll never forgive me for it. Well, there's no way around it, let's go in through the front door like always.

"Are you ready?" I turned to Benitsubasa who was a bit pale but the flame in her eyes smouldered on as always. She grinned at me and showed thumbs up to cover up her nervousness.

"You'll remain on line with me, constantly." I turned to the field operative who nodded, putting on his headgear. "Track our target and update us on his position. Everything else is secondary. With this many possible witnesses in a middle of a populated city like this, survivors are inevitable."

He merely closed his eyes in recognition. He knew all of this of course; I was more or less talking for Benitsubasa's sake.

"Let's go." I opened the door of the van and hopped out, Benitsubasa following closely after me. As we walked the block towards the hotel, I explained to my apprentice what was going to happen.

"Because this mission just went badly, I'll be accompanying you for it. Do not worry; there will be plenty of killing for you too." I smiled a bit at how she paled a bit more at that. Clearly she wasn't happy with the killing part. "Once we get in, do not bother finishing off anyone you hit. So long as they cannot attack us anymore, their lives are of no concern to us. Our mission is to get to our target as quickly as possible to prevent his escape. Everyone who gets in our way needs to get out of our way and it doesn't matter how we do it."

"Right." Benitsubasa took several deep breaths to calm herself down and cracked her knuckles. I chuckled quietly at her determination. It reminded me of me before my first mission. I was just as determined as her to prove myself to Yume, Kara and myself. Prove that I was strong, that I was worthy.

"Remember," I reminded her as we walked into the hotel and the operative told me which door I needed. "Aim high – head or chest area – humans, in general, do not have the reflexes, speed or skill required to dodge our attacks. There are exceptions to this, you may have heard of the MBI Specialists but I do not expect for us to run into any here."

Benitsubasa nodded and opened her mouth to say something but at this point we already reached the doors at which a couple burly men in black suits stood guard at.

"Hey, this area is off-" One of them tried to say something but I simply continued on my swords at the ready, the guards coughing and then hitting the floor, cloven in half.

"Or simply hit them hard enough to instantly kill them." I offered a green Benitsubasa a sweet smile as she stared at the corpses before I kicked the door in. "Good evening!"

I proceeded to hack and slash at half a dozen men on the other side, my speed allowing me to kill most of them before they could so much as take aim. Behind me, my student quietly – comparatively to the yelling and screaming going on – was emptying out her stomach.

"Hmm…" I pursed my lips, looking around at the blood covered room. At least it was silent now. "Let's go Benitsubasa; they'll hit the alarm soon."

The sickly girl nodded and got up, afraid of opening her mouth for the fear of being sick again. Suddenly, a door right beside her opened and she found herself facing the barrel of a gun belonging to another nondescript burly guy with a couple more buddies behind him.

"Free-" I think he wanted to say 'freeze' but considering panicked Benitsubasa just pulverized all of his upper body into fine red paste that covered both her and his teammates, we will never know. As everyone froze at the unforeseeable event, I sighed and dashed over, ending the leftovers in a couple slashes.

"Not bad." I took a glance at the 2 legs, hips, a bit of guts and a fragment of a spine – all that was left of Benitsubasa's target. "He's definitely not getting back up again."

I laughed as Benitsubasa retched again.

"Come on, we need to keep going." I continued down the corridor that the trio so kindly opened up for us, my swords pointing at the ground before me. Behind me, Benitsubasa trudged on, her eyes darting all over the place, looking for more ambushers. The corridor ended in a staircase and about 10 men who opened fire at us with pistols immediately. Moving to position myself in between them and the unarmoured Benitsubasa, I dashed over, parrying the occasional bullet going for my head. This time, Benitsubasa didn't even get to do anything but watch as I filled the staircase landing with limbs, guts, body pieces and tons of blood. It wasn't as if I was trying to hack my enemies into pieces, they just tended to come apart no matter where I hacked them at.

As much as I hated securing stairs, elevators were infinitely worse. The reason for this was that they are controlled by the people the building belongs to. Of course, if the enemy can't take advantage of that, then they are terrible. Like here for instance, we arrived on the second floor landing precisely as the elevator doors opened and we found 8 guys staring at us in surprise. I was about to move in to kill them all when Benitsubasa surprised me by slamming the elevator floor hard enough to snap the cables holding it up.

"Nice." Was my comment as the elevator plummeted down to hell, horrified death wails of its occupants bouncing up the elevator shaft. "Good reaction."

"T-thanks." Benitsubasa swallowed hard and covered her ears to keep the screams out.

"Hmm, they have barricades." I frowned as I pulled back, about a hundred bullets riddling the wall beside the corner I peeked out from. "And machine guns."

"Do we need to go that way?" Benitsubasa swallowed nervously at the destroyed wall.

"You know what? No we don't." I had a brilliant idea looking at my student. "Benitsubasa, shatter the floor beneath their feet."

"But won't that bring down the building?" She stared at me with wide eyes.

"Well, if you don't try to bring it down, it won't." I turned back to the corner. "I'll hold their attention. Do not fail me."

"Y-yes." Benitsubasa took a deep breath and a pale red aura began to envelop her fists. "I am ready."

The moment she said that, I was already in the corridor, my swords creating a wall of steel through which nothing could get through. Well, that's not true considering the sheer volume of the bullets, I could only block and parry those heading for my head. My armour had to tank the rest and the amount of impacts was starting to drive me back slowly. Thankfully, the next instant it all ended as Benitsubasa rocked the building, collapsing both the corridor and the big room at the end of it. Cracks spread throughout the walls, but our corridor held.

"Well done." I gave my apprentice a sharp nod and then continued down the corridor towards an elevator shaft, the idea I had driving me on. Reaching the elevator, I sliced open the doors and then looked up into the dark void above. Not ideal, but it'll do, we are running out of time to continue smashing our way floor by floor. The field operative outside reported that they are calling in a helicopter to evacuate everyone and it'll be here within 15 minutes.

"Let's go." I jumped in and began making my way upwards using the emergency ladder.

"I can't see anything…" Benitsubasa whispered beneath me, the narrow steel corridor echoing her voice. "How do you even know where you are going?"

"I guess." I grinned at the soft curse below as Benitsubasa's foot slipped in shock.

"Let's try…here." I slashed at the metal doors and broke through with my body as a battering ram. "Oh hi there."

The expressions on the men's faces were priceless. Here they were, waiting for us with a decent barricade and several men with LMGs perched up in good positions, ready for us to attack from the staircase. And then suddenly, in we pop-in in the middle of them all through the elevator. The stupor didn't last long and within seconds all of their weapons were turning our way. Unfortunately for them, for a melee Sekirei such as myself a couple seconds is a long time in combat with an inferior foe.

As I wiped my blades on the nearby corpse, I had to admit that I liked Benitsubasa's style. Or rather lack of. She literally climbed in and started swinging at everything in her reach – turning about a third of the defenders into red goo that covered pretty much everything. There were a few things left over, legs mostly, a few hips and spines and a decent amount of guts. It was very messy, even compared to me, but – just like me – her opponents are never getting back up again. If they did, I'd call for evacuation and screw the mission, fighting something that won't go down after 80 percent of its body is fine red paste is not in my job description.

What I didn't like though, is the fact that practically after each fight, Benitsubasa was sick and as far as I could see, her mental stability was deteriorating with each bloody mess that she caused. Perhaps taking her along was a worse idea then leaving her with the field operative…

"Shhh." I hugged her, forgetting about the mission for the moment. "It's fine, you did well."

"So…much….blood." She clenched her eyes shut as she rested in my grasp. "So much screaming."

"Come on, we are almost there." I gently set her down and lifted up her head so she could look at me. "We are almost done, our target is but a stairway away."

"A-aight." She took several deep breaths trying to calm herself. It…worked somewhat. I could at least see that spark in her eyes begin to light up again.

"Let's finish this."

"We've come a long way to find you, Doctor Moretti." I drawled as we entered the roof, the helipad with several dozen people only a couple dozen meters ahead. "It would've been so much nicer if you died quietly in a ditch somewhere."

"Damn it! Your men are useless, she's here!" The Italian scientist panicked at the sight of me with my blades casually swinging in tact with my walking and Benitsubasa who literally dripped blood as she walked on.

"Kill those bitches!" One of the bosses, a young looking black dude shouted at his guards.

"The target is yours, Benitsubasa." I nodded reassuringly to my apprentice. "I'll take care of the rest."

"R-right, Teacher." She tightened her fists, a hard look appearing in her eyes as she stared at the panicked Italian.

"Let's have a good fight, mm?" I smiled at the half a hundred or so men who slowly encircled me.

"Waste her!" One of the bosses, a Russian judging by the accent this time, yelled.

A hail of bullets crashed upon what used to be my position a moment ago. I on the other hand, was already swinging at the nearest suited thug who raised his sawed off shotgun in an attempt to shoot me. I was much faster though and with a single ethereal blue glowing sword flick I was already rushing towards my next target, even as the man turned to try and follow me. I could feel a grin coming on as I heard him fall in pieces, dead before he even hit the ground. I think that over the years, I really did pick up several things from Kara. Like joy of battle and appreciation in death of my foes.

60 seconds into the combat, I was already on my 17th kill, the chaos of the battle only aiding me. These gangsters were anything but trained soldiers. So as soon as they started dying, those left alive started to freak out. Seeing their comrades die gruesomely as they fell to the blood covered roof in pieces, those who still lived started shooting in my general direction, not even bothering to aim, trying to get me by sheer volume of bullets. Unfortunately, that is the worst thing they could've done. I didn't even bother parrying and blocking the bullets anymore, my armour protecting me from their pistols and SMGs. Occasionally I swatted a bullet out of the air that was going for my head but those were few. More often than not, I found myself out of immediate targets as the friendly fire killed the men I was going for.

"D-dem-" A short stab and a wet sloshing sound was the end of the final thug who fell into the puddle of blood. I stared at him for a second, ignoring the gruesome scene around me and the cries of the wounded. Due to the speed I was going at, more of than not, the men I hacked at survived - if one can call missing limbs and other various body parts survival. Of course there were also those who got hit by friendly fire and they looked a lot prettier then my left overs. Then I turned around and looked over the area, light wind ruffling my hair and the remnants of my haori gently. Their bullets may not have been big enough caliber to go through my armour but my haori and tabard were in shreds now. Noticing the lack of standing enemies – horribly mauled wounded crawling around who had the misfortune of not dying instantly didn't count – I walked over to raised helipad area and walked up the short stairs.

"Congratulations." I stopped before a shivering Benitsubasa who stared at a gigantic red stain before her. I am guessing that used to be the Italian but hell if I could find a single intact piece of him. It was as if someone went ahead and turned him into a gigantic blood spray that reached several meters to the end of the helipad and seemed like it would've kept going had there been more ground.

"You've finished your first mission."

She raised her face to look at my smiling one. My, did she look messy. Her face was covered by a drying mask of blood with two clear tear tracks going all the way down. Her pink long hair that she wore in a side tail was now a single reddish brown entity, glued together by the crimson fluid.

"Listen…" I paused for a second, wondering if I should do this, but decided that she needs this right now anyway. "What we did here, needed to be done. It is unfortunate that so many died as we fought to get to this bastard, but at the end of the day it is nothing more than misfortune for them and us."

"W-why did they all have to die?" Benitsubasa lowered her gaze on the spiky bloodstain she made. "Why did he have to die?"

"Mmm…" I sat down beside her and looked onto the rapidly darkening city. "They died because they did their duty. They swore to follow their leaders and their leaders got them killed. Simple as that and its not your fault in any way. It is the fault of their leaders and their bad decisions is what ended their lives on my blade and your fist."

"As for this bastard that is our target," I continued on, my hand around Benitsubasa's waist, bringing her close to me as she shivered from nerves. "This guy used to be an adjuster for a Sekirei. Number 81 I think, but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, he not only screwed up and nearly got our kin killed with faulty Initiation, but he also decided to flee Kamikura, taking as much data as he could get his hands on."

"As sad as it is, we aren't really here because he almost got one of our kind terminated, but rather for that data." I glanced at Benitsubasa's widely opened eyes. "That information, in the wrong hands, can and will lead our enemies to knowing more about us, to knowing our weaknesses and figuring out specialized weapons to kill us. By killing this man, we protect our entire race for another day. We are the guardians of our kind, Beni. We are all that stands between us all ending up on the operating table as the greedy humans cut us up to learn our secrets."

"W-why aren't there more?" Benitsubasa ignored me shortening her name. "Why did no one but I and Haihane want to join the Disciplinary Squad if it's so important? Why did we not know what you do before we joined?"

"The White Clown would rather have us all kept in the dark about the dangers of humankind." I practically spat out his name. "He woos us with love and romance and the stupid crap about Ashikabi…no one but us know the truth. The truth, is that humanity is by far not the white knight Minaka paints it as. Humanity is a varied beast, a hydra if you would. Each head is different, each human is unique. But as a whole, humankind is not ready for us."

"And so, we, the Disciplinary Squad hunt down and terminate anyone who is a danger to us Sekirei." I wrapped up my speech before adding an afterthought. "And by extension, MBI."

"Come." I stood up and offered the small girl who looked like a sparrow caught by a red rain. "We need to finish this and go home."

"Finish?" She took my hand and got up.

"Yea," I walked over to the edge of the platform and looked at the sea of blood amidst which mangled and tormented forms crawled about in agony, moaning pitifully to the uncaring skies above. "It is far too cruel to leave them in this state, Beni. Even our enemies deserve mercy, even if it's the final kind."


	16. Gate:Start

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"S-so…you want me to go in there a-and k-kill everyone!?"<p>

"Is that so difficult to understand?" I turned my eyes to the girl beside me, her much smaller form shaking. "It is what you signed up for; it is what we are here to do."

"Y-yes..." Beni took a deep breath and visibly calmed herself. "I'll do it."

"Hmm." I looked over my apprentice one more time. "Very well. Remember, the target must die. Everyone else is optional."

"Right." She swallowed hard. "I am off."

"You'll be fine." I watched her slowly run off towards an entrance to a secret bunker, gaining speed. It seems like she's going to preform her new move on the door to gain entrance. I looked on as she was enveloped by red energy and with a great shout she smashed into the several foot thick steel doors, the force of her Shock Charge carrying her straight through the massive gate and deep inside. I smiled; she grew quite nicely over the past year, now if only she'd get over her fear of killing people.

I'd like to say that Beni and Haihane took to our training like fish to water, but that'd be a lie. They sweated, moaned, screamed, bled and dragged themselves through it. The fact that Kara and I decided to make them our personal apprentices rather than shared meant that every couple weeks we pitted them against each other to see which one progressed further. So far, Benitsubasa was winning by 3. Kara was not happy to see Haihane get taken out within first 5 seconds of the last fight with Shock Charge. I smiled at the memory.

Unlike Karasuba who trained Haihane to be a specific, specialized slayer, I turned Benitsubasa into a generalist like myself, training her to make up abilities capable of doing anything and everything and thinking quick on her feet to combine all tools at her disposal to secure victory. The funny thing is, albeit Beni was stronger than Haihane, I, her teacher, was weaker than Kara. Beni remains mostly a hand to hand fighter and I was pleasantly surprised when she asked me if she could get a lighter version of my armour or at least something that wouldn't rip the instant she decides to use some of her stronger abilities.

Like Shock Charge for instance. When she activates that ability, she sends directed shockwaves through the ground with each step, which accumulate the longer she charges. After dashing for about twenty meters she can tear right through a tank if necessary, the shockwave would form a protective cocoon around her. Unfortunately, her clothes never survived the use of said ability even though it became her all-time favourite due to the amount of control and power it gave her. Opponent dodged? So long as she keeps running and merely turns, the shock power and shield will only grow. I once had her run a 300 meter lap and then crash into cliff. That proved to be a bad idea as I had to go and dig her out of the roughly 20 meter deep tunnel she carved into solid rock.

So, in the end, Beni got what she wanted and now ran around with a light nanoweave suit which resisted the shredding effects of her own abilities very well. The fact that it could also hold small caliber gunfire while being quite comfortable was merely a very nice bonus. I mean, she doesn't particularly care about armour when her Shock Charge shield can disintegrate a tank shell on contact - a proven concept.

The one thing I can't make her get over though is the fear of killing people, specifically their screams and pleas as they die. I must admit, I am at fault here as I took her with me on her first mission which went horribly wrong when the ID severely underestimated the amount of guards on sight. I mean, for fucks sake, the target was in the middle of a mafia hotel holding a conference attended by 6 major gangster bosses, each one with an army of bodyguards. Thankfully, after figuring out that this was far too dangerous for Beni's first mission, I merely told her to follow as I slaughtered my way through about a couple hundred people. Unfortunately, most of my blows didn't kill my enemies instantly as I was in a hurry to get to the target before he was evacuated.

Beni still has nightmares about that night and on the first night I had to stay with her in her bed to keep the nightmares away as she screamed herself awake on first try. After a restless night, the ID curators were very unhappy to see me at their door in the morning. After I left, the ones still alive prayed fervently to whatever gods they believed in and swore that this kind of bullshit will never happen again. So far, I haven't had the reason to come back. Minaka made a bit of a fuss about it, moaning how hard it was to hire decent intelligence agents but I just plain didn't care at that point.

Still, the damage was done and now, whenever Beni has to kill someone she does it with such overwhelming force to ensure that the target really stays dead that most of the time she turns her targets into fine red mist. She actually started to collect titles, much like her proud teacher, aka me. So far she got 'Red Sekirei' and 'Red Mist' but it's a start. Beats Haihane anyway who only got 'Blue Sekirei' to her name, although she and Kara don't seem to care much about those titles.

Well, I think I've waited long enough, let's go check on my valuable little bird. Another fun fact, her chest stays on A cup level and just doesn't want to grow further. Even though I couldn't care less with my chest only a size larger, Beni is very upset by this and when Beni is upset, things tend to get pulverized into dust. It's actually useful to taunt her with this during our daily spars as Beni will start to go after me with so much more killing intent than usual. Haihane takes great advantage of this in teasing fights as well, as she herself suddenly filled out very decently, even if her uniform and the bandages she wears hide it.

I'd have never thought of Haihane to be such a ditz, honestly. Although her claws and the skills Kara drilled into her make her a nightmare on the battlefield, whenever not in combat Haihane has a tendency to fall asleep, a by-product of the continuous grueling training we give to our protégés. It wouldn't have been so bad, if she didn't have the same 'zombie' mode as Takami in the morning. She has scratched and clawed herself with her own weapons so many times in the morning that even Benitsubasa took pity on her and suggested that she get tear resistant armour for herself. However, considering that Haihane's style of fighting relies on extreme mobility much like Kara herself, she can't afford to use armour, even the tiniest movement restriction might screw up her combo.

As I thought to myself I moved through the decimated complex, dust and fine red matter everywhere. Occasionally I'd find a body fragment like a hand still clutching a rifle or a chunk of a boot cladded leg. Never a head though, Beni tends to aim there first. Every now and then I'd see a metal door, completely wrecked with sharp edges pointing inside the room they were supposed to shield. As I walked through the complex I heard faint crying and heaving sounds far away. Of course, she would, I sighed. Beni tends to control her feelings by feeding them all to rage until the very end, when there's nothing more to destroy and no one else to turn into red mist. A berserker would be a fitting title, but it's not true. Her rage does not blind her, she merely turns into a machine that will not stop and will not stay down so long as her opponent still stands and she looks for anyway to get them; creativity is her niche.

I should get her to do something creative actually, I thought to myself as I made it to the final room, perhaps draw or play music or even sing. Beni had a decent voice so she could do that. She might also even make shockwaves with her voice, now that's an idea I should toss to her. She yells and roars in rage on a constant basis anyway, might as well give her shouts an actual use.

"There, there." I rubbed my hand across the sobbing girl's back after checking to ensure that everyone in the room is pulverized, the blood making a thick sloshing sound as I moved. "You've done well; your sisters are safe because of your sacrifice."

"W-why us…" Beni turned her pale face towards me, her red eyes shining with tears.

"Because we are the only ones who bothered to care." I answered, taking a seat on the blood covered floor beside Beni. "Because they are nothing but stupid, whiny, little brats who talk about love and peace and all the rest of that bullshit."

I pulled her into a hug and patted her bloody hair.

"They don't know about the price that we pay for them." I said softly as Beni listened, her sobs lessening. "They don't understand why we do what we must. They have never seen this side of humanity; they just don't understand the danger."

"But we do." Beni said thickly.

"Yes, we do." I smiled gently as I held the small Sekirei, her body making her pass for a child against my massive armoured frame. Before we began each mission, I'd talk to Beni about it, who the target was, what he or she did, what the consequences of letting them live would be. The first couple targets, excluding the fumbled first mission, I had tortured in her presence and forced them to tell her why they did what they did, why they had betrayed MBI and us with it. It wasn't pretty, but it was necessary. Beni needed to know why we hunt down and kill the traitorous scum.

I don't know how Kara handled Haihane's first kill, but judging by the lack of half the bottles in our bar one night, I have a pretty good picture of what might've happened. It was such a shame I couldn't use that tool to help Beni. Not only was she out like a light from a single glass of wine of all things, but it also amplified her nightmares somehow, making her remember every single one vividly when she woke up. Needless to say, Beni doesn't drink. Ever.

"Come, let's go home." I smiled at Beni and picked her up in a single smooth move, eliciting a surprised squeak. She smiled at me in thanks and curled up in a ball on my chest, falling asleep nearly instantly from the exhaustion and emotional trauma. I smiled at the small bundle of blood drenched cuteness that sought solace in my embrace. It was surprising just how close we grew over a single year. Granted, it was nowhere near the closeness I and Kara enjoyed, but whereas Haihane was merely a good friend and a drinking buddy, Benitsubasa…I guess the closest I could call her would be my adorable little sister. That could turn people into fine red-tinged mist.

"Huh." I stopped and thought about that for a second. Not sure the rest of the world would agree with me there I think, but who cares.

"Sister Rei…" Beni muttered in her sleep and smiled.

I stopped and stared, an odd heat creeping up my cheeks and I had the weirdest urge to hug Beni tighter and…squeal. Nope, never happening, I thought as I viciously squashed that urge down. Never happened. End of story.

"Shhh, little Beni." A tender smile crept on my face as I walked through the hole where the complex main doors used to be. "We are going home."

* * *

><p>"So it's about to begin." Beni shivered, her eyes glancing around the table, still in her combat gear as we took a detour prior to heading over to MBI Tower. Thankfully though, she took a shower to get all of the blood off her.<p>

"It's been twenty years and he has been very anxious for the past couple." Takami's shoulders drooped in defeat as she failed to stall Minaka for more time.

"We've done all we could, we used every excuse." Akitsu murmured to her comfortingly, rubbing her back gently.

"I know but-"

"There is nothing more we can do." Elizabeth said heavily and downed a glass of wine with a defeated sigh. "Even 107 and 108 are almost ready, no matter how young they look, their power has finished stabilizing."

"And that is all Minaka needs to start the game." I stated plainly, my elbows on the table and my head in my arms. "He never needed anything more than that."

"And now, you leave the rest to us." Kara's usual smile was nowhere near her face this evening as she drank a cup of sake. "I must admit, Rei. I was at first holding it against you for saving Takehito but now…Now it's our turn to stall for time as you look for a way out."

"I am not sure if that'll be enough." Takehito said with a heavy sigh as he sat by a tense Miya who looked at us with clear distrust. "Matsu and I are doing everything we can but it's taking a while to corrupt the rest of the Jinki when we have only one."

"How long?" Haihane asked as she swirled some rum around her wooden cup.

"A year at worst, half a year at best." Takehito answered with a lowered head.

"Many will die." I took a deep breath. "Many of the very same Sekirei I fought and killed for to protect up to now."

"So long as it's not a level 5 Deactivation, we can save them in the end." Akitsu stated calmly.

"Maybe it's better for me to just…steal the Jinki and hold them in the Spirit Realm." I raised my head to look at the party drinking and or smoking at the table.

"No." Kara denied it without any leniency. "That will never be an option and you know it. You'll go mad within half a month."

I wanted to say she was wrong that this was the only way…But I knew the truth. We all did. I could not stay in the Spirit Realm safely for longer than a couple days at most. At first it was the whispers, constant unblockable whispers just on the edge of my consciousness which grew louder and louder but I couldn't understand them. Then, I began to see silhouettes around the blue orbs, shades of people that died. See them walk around with a lost expression on their faces. And then, finally on the 7th day of the trial, they began to see _me_. At that point, after seeing their eyes on me I couldn't handle it and went back. The end result of this little experiment was that Kara had to take care of my body as I was in a near catatonic state for several days before she could get me out.

"We need to stall the First and Second stages for as long as possible." Elizabeth voiced out the obvious answer. "Make sure all of the birds find their True Ashikabi. Minaka will eat it up; he's still a romantic deep at heart and will understand our drive to get the birds their true Ashikabi…up to a point."

"Speaking of which, have you four found yours yet?" Takehito glanced at us 4.

"I don't need an Ashikabi." Kara said loftily. "Neither does Rei."

"Except that Minaka won't care about your opinions on the matter." Takami lit a new cigarette. "He will find a way to get you 4 an Ashikabi."

"We'll see." I rubbed my face tiredly. "We'll last till the end of Second Stage at least and then we can go and see which Ashikabi is actually worthy of us…or something like that."

"Yea, it's not like they got the strength to force us!" The ever smouldering flame in Beni's eyes roared in challenge, daring us to claim otherwise.

"They might." Haihane stated with a soft sigh. "But I doubt my Ashikabi would survive the night if he forced himself on me."

Kara didn't say anything and instead merely smiled a sick, twisted smile. I somehow doubt she'd kill an Ashikabi that forced himself on her – gods I don't know if that's even possible – as she doesn't want to die, but who ever said that the Ashikabi has to be in good physical and mental condition? I for one, think I'd lock the fool that dared to forcefully wing me in the Spirit Realm for couple weeks. The wreck that would remain will more than likely spend the rest of its wretched life in a mental institution.

"We will be cutting it close at best." Takehito rubbed his chin in frustration. "And we might be too late at worst."

"There is no other option but to try." Akitsu stated. "Try and accept no defeat. There is no room for failure here. One final thing I'd suggest is to avoid termination of any and all Sekirei. The more Sekirei live to see the Third Stage the longer it will last."

Everyone at the table nodded at that, it did make sense.

"To us, to a future that we will all live to see." Takehito stood up, holding his cup of dark red wine that looked eerily like blood under the dim lights. "Cheers."

"Cheers." We all took a drink of whatever we were holding; even Beni took a sip of something with a cringe.

"So." Kara's usual maniac smile slowly made it to her face. "Shall we begin?"


	17. Gate:Meetings

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Reminder: Author does appreciate reviews and would appreciate it a lot more if there were more of them. Anything relating to the story, any criticism, comments, suggestions, etc, would be nice.

Note: For some reason I thought -sama transitioned over as Lord/Lady but I was wrong. However, by the time I figured that out, it was too late as now I'd have to sift through thousands of words to change stuff which might not make sense if changed. So I'll leave it be as is and continue to using Lord/Lady/Milord/Milady as I see fit.

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><p>Takami was right when she said that Minaka would start sniffing about our Ashikabi situation. He even had the gall to suggest one, Natsuo Ichinomi, a survivor of what is now known as Second Kamikura Assault. The man was apparently a latent Ashikabi and during the assault he fought beside Akitsu all the way to the end and was hospitalized for half a year due to the injuries he took. All in all, he seemed like a pretty good candidate except for a couple things. First off, he was gay, he admitted it himself that he would never be able to care for us in a way we'd expect. Secondly, none of us reacted to him. Beni did admit a slight heat when he was around but it was a very, very weak reaction and we simply dismissed it as unimportant.<p>

Minaka threw a tantrum but in the end agreed that it didn't honestly matter so long as we all promise to stay as a single squad in his employment. We did say that we'll look around and perhaps even pick an Ashikabi near the end of 2nd stage if there was no other alternative. So far though, we didn't have any luck in finding anyone who caused us to react. It was a bit –

"Hmm, it's taking a while." Kara stretched a bit, wriggling under my arm as we sat side by side on the edge of a cliff overlooking what used to be a reinforced stronghold of a town. "And they started off so strong too~."

"They are cleaning up I bet." I nodded slightly at the massive plumes of smoke and dust that stretched into the blue sky hundreds of meters high. "I must admit I am pleasantly surprised by the progress of your blue bird. She shredded that armour detachment in seconds."

"True, but I doubt that little accomplishment will cause her jealousy with your Bloody Mist to vanish any time soon." Kara pointed leisurely at a huge gorge running straight through the complex as if someone took a giant bulldozer and drove through, not caring of what was in the way. "Even I am impressed by that."

"Beni took about half a kilometer charge up for her Shock Charge to do that." I shook my head slightly. "Your Haihane shredded her targets the instant they came into her sight."

"Still, my little student simply doesn't have anything that can cause widespread destruction and chaos like yours." Kara pouted a bit.

"Hah, like teacher, like student, hmm?" I turned and kissed Kara on the cheek.

"Hey now." Kara turned to me, a spark in her eyes. "Who ever said I can't obliterate areas now? It's all a matter of how much power I put in my swings, honestly."

"Ah," I gasped as we ended our kiss. "Maybe you'll show me, your powerful swings, mmm?"

"I like that idea." Kara grinned as she tapped a couple buttons on the inside of my collar, knowing very well by now how to get me out of my armor. "I think you'll like what you'll get when I do."

"Kara," I kissed her passionately as my hands slipped beneath her shirt and began to trace up her flat, muscular stomach. "I think this is the first time on a battlefield, neh?"

"Was bound to happen sooner or later anyways."

Our laughter rose to the smoke stained skies.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you 2 did that while we were out there!" Beni clutched her head in horror as we flew back to Japan. "And you didn't even bother stopping when we came back!"<p>

"We were supposed to?" I glanced at Kara who merely grinned back, our good moods from our little action still carrying on.

Beni merely huffed in annoyance, giving her the appearance of a wet sparrow. Haihane smirked at us, while Beni turned away the moment they found us; Haihane stayed and watched, her pale face red for once. All in all, I think this was a good mission for their first collaborative solo. I mean, we got to watch and relax while Beni and Haihane demolished the enemy and killed the target.

"I rather liked today's mission." I sighed contentedly as I hugged Kara to my side.

"I agree." Kara smirked at the reaction of our students. "I like having minions at my disposal do the grunt work. We should do more of this."

"Grrr." Beni growled as we laughed. "Garh! You two are unbelievable. The two strongest Sekirei I know behaving like…like…"

"You should unwind a bit too Beni." I grinned at her antics. "We know you need it."

"I-"

"I must say, what they did looked very interesting." Haihane turned to Beni. "The movies and hentai I watched had nothing on that. Want to try it some time?"

Beni stared at Haihane in stupor. Then took a glance at the claws lying beneath the feet of its owner and paled to a deathly hue. The three of us merely laughed at her reaction. Beni was a romantic and believed that only her True Ashikabi should have access to her body so being in a company of 3 perverts, as she called us, was rather difficult to her as we teased her to no end. Truthfully, I found nothing perverted in my relationship with Kara and I doubt Kara even knows what perversion means…or cares. I think only Haihane truly fits the bill due to the gigabytes of porn she accumulated. I tried watching it once, but thought it was stupid when I had the real thing beside me anytime she or I wanted to. Haihane on the other hand sees it as an art, something to be studied for future use. Personally, I think that whenever the 4 of us find an Ashikabi, we are in danger of losing him or her very fast due to Haihane and all of the promises she vowed to do to our Ashikabi. I think she compiled a list somewhere which she updates regularly after watching/researching more movies and hentai.

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><p>"Oh! Lady Karasuba!"<p>

We were walking through the main hall casually, on our way to our floor through the elevator as we didn't want to jump up there today, when we were called by an excited voice. Turning around, we saw several girls in various abnormal clothes, some of them holding weapons, all of them looking at us with awe and a hint of fear. In the front stood a girl in a miko outfit with a much shorter than usual skirt and red gloves, waving at us excitedly.

"Musubi?" Kara asked with surprise before breaking off to walk up to her. I followed; my own interest in Yume's host peaked as well. What was she doing here?

"Yep!" Musubi stared at Kara with wide, awe-filled eyes. "I am finally here, Lady Karasuba! I am going to go and find my True Ashikabi and with them, my true love!"

"Hmm." I tilted my head a little as I surveyed her outfit. "Fist fighter?"

Musubi nodded vigorously looking at me with same look she gave to Kara.

"A-are you number 51, the Reaper?" One of the girls, this one a tiny little thing in a blue blouse and a skirt with no weapon stared at me as if they saw a star.

"Yes." I turned to her after glancing back to Musubi who was talking to Kara about something. "Why?"

"Umm…" She stares at me with a light pink blush on her cheeks, she reminded me of a mouse honestly. "I-is it scary out there?"

"Out there?" I glanced at the glass doors beyond which Shinto Teito could be seen. "Yes. It's a scary and cruel world out there, little bird, so find your Ashikabi quick and grow strong. Strong enough to protect both your chosen and yourself."

The girl paled but then steeled herself and looked up at me with hope.

"I control the sound with my voice. But it hurts me when I use it, what should I do?"

I tilted my head to stare at this fascinatingly naïve creature before me. She asking me, the Reaper, the Sekirei whose graveyard is numbering in thousands to help her? Hmm, why not?

"Your power only hurts you because you let it." I poked the tiny girl on her forehead gently. "It is your power, control it. Force it to your will and it will obey."

"Train until you bleed and then train a bit more." I turned to face towards Kara who finished talking to Musubi and was waiting for me with Beni and Haihane. "Everyone started as a nobody, even Kara and I. It is only through sheer will and massive effort that we are where we are."

"T-thank you!"

I merely waved my hand as I walked on, a slight smile on my lips. I always wondered if the birds I save and give my advice to actually do anything about it. It would be a bit sad if they didn't and then died on the battlefield in vain, unable to even scratch their opponent, let alone defend their Ashikabi.

* * *

><p>I walked through the streets of Shinto Teito alone, Kara and Haihane on a mission while Beni was training away on a training ground in MBI. I wasn't actually expecting to happen upon anything this time around, it was noon after all and most criminal trash tended to come out only after sunset. Most Sekirei also didn't like fighting during the day but there were whispers in the population about strangely clad girls walking around and using supernatural powers. I grinned when I heard these humans squeak in fear as I walked past, my Disciplinary Squad haori ruffling gently under the wind, letting hints of my armour peek through.<p>

"Ack!" I glanced downward to see a boy on the ground after he collided with me from the side. He was rubbing his head from the impact with my shoulder and had a dazed look about him. I guess it's a bit similar to running into a street pole for the poor guy.

"You alright?" I reached out for the guy who looked like just finished his teenage years. Although it's a bit hard to tell with the Asian part of humanity I found. He could be in his twenties or in his teens and I wouldn't know the difference, not like I ever bothered to care honestly.

"Yea…thanks." He took my hand and stood up, surprised at the fact that I didn't budge a millimetre at the effort. "Sorry about that and wow, you are tough!"

"No problem." I took a closer look at the guy. He seemed average enough, black hair and black eyes with kindness in them, wearing standard blue jeans and a brown jacket. "In a hurry to somewhere?"

"Yea, I was heading over to the university to take a look at my entry exam grade." He ruffled his hair with an apologetic look. "Sorry I was so worried about my grades that I somehow didn't notice you."

"Again, its fine." I waved aside his apology and continued to stare at him. I swear, he looks familiar somehow. I have seen him before somewhere…or someone that looked like him.

"A-alright." He coughed nervously and then stepped back. "Well, I must be off, goodbye!"

"Goodbye." I stared as he disappeared into the crowd and then realized with a start that I forgot to ask who he was. Damn it, oh well, if he truly is someone I've seen before, I don't doubt I'll see him again. I shrugged and carried on, walking leisurely through the busy streets, humans parting way before me, afraid of my big form.

It was a bit sad really, how I could easily see practically to the horizon over this sea of black heads. Takami was right though, humans are a very varied and versatile race. Over the 3 years I've been roaming the world, I've seen humans of all sorts, shapes, colors and types. From Asians, to Blacks to Whites to Hispanics, to Arabs to Indians to Native Americans…humankind was very diverse. I've seen people so small that they barely reach my stomach and people so tall that it was I who reached only their chin. I may have not met many humans I could actually talk to, actually, scratch that, every single human I've met outside of Shinto Teito I had to kill practically instantly so there was very little actual communication involved. I must admit to knowing swears in more than a dozen languages though. The mercenaries and guards I killed tended to meet me with crude words, Russians excluded. The Russians sometimes gave me entire poems worth of swearing. Of course, I actually hanged back and waited for them to finish in cases like this as it was just plain rude to kill them before they finished their masterpiece. Still, it's a bit sad though, now that I think about it. I may have traveled the world but I haven't actually met and talked to the people of this world. Killed plenty but talking? Not so much…

A commotion on the roofs caught my attention. Sighing, I turned into an alley and jumped up onto the roof of the apartment building I was currently passing by. Looking around, I saw the massive dormitories of Shinto Teito university just a couple blocks away. Running on the roofs of the houses across the street from me were…

I rubbed my face with my palm. Of course this would happen. I mean, how could it not?

Not a single day in the city and she's already in trouble. And no, not just any kind of regular trouble, that damn girl somehow managed to get the two stripper clowns to chase after her. I watched as they ran off to a large alley and then the girl took a leap of faith…off the building.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. Why does this kind of crap happen at least once every time I patrol? I questioned the heavens this before jumping across the street and dashing over to where the two clowns stood, blasting their lightning at a crowded alley. These morons are the reason why the MBI Secrecy Division has so much work and hates our kind with a passion. I don't even know how many billions SD had to dish out to get everyone to shut up about things that go on and to recompense any structural damage.

"What. Are. You. Doing." I strolled over to the duo, my steps punctuating my words. "In broad daylight."

"You!" The twins turned and paled severely.

"I see you are dressed as...uniquely as always." I surveyed their…outfits. Considering it's the Sekirei who pick their standard outfit and MBI merely acts as a supplier…their clothing choice tells everyone about them a lot. I don't even know how they can run around in this S&M leather that is practically a bunch of leather straps of various widths and lengths somehow put together.

"W-what do you want." The only way I found to tell the twins apart is their chest size. Well, that and their suits are slightly different colors but I kept mixing them up when I tried to do it by that so I just know that number 11, Hikari has a significantly larger bust then her sister number 12, Hibiki whose modest chest was practically the same size as mine. Damn, now that I think about it, just how many times did I run into them to actually start differentiate them like so?

"You do realize it's a bright day with absolutely no clouds right." I stopped mere meters from them, merely a heartbeat away if I dashed. "You know that the rules currently prevent you from fighting in broad daylight in crowded areas during First Stage, so…what are you doing?"  
>"Screw the rules, we'll fight anyone we want whenever we want!" The short tempered Hikari blew up, as expected. Her sister on the other hand clamped her sister's mouth and bowed before me.<p>

"Sorry, ignore her." Hikari tried to yell something but was muffled. "We'll not fight in crowded areas anymore."

"Hmm." I tilted my head at them before frowning and turning intangible just in time for a fire wave to pass through me.

"Homura." I turned to face the black clad, masked Sekirei who stood with his right hand still outstretched to me. "Nice to see you again."

"Rei." He sighed, foiled in his sneak attack once more. "On a patrol again?"

"Why yes." I ignored how the twins took the hint and fled. "I happened to see a girl today, someone I am very interested in."

"And I should care, because?" Homura glared at me warily.

"Because number 88, Musubi, is unwinged." I grin at the guy, not like he can see with my mask in the way. "And we all know about a certain fire-wielding Sekirei Guardian, mmm?"

"She ran away already while you distracted the twins." Homura finally let his hand fall down. "But you knew this already, didn't you?"

"Why would I distract them?" I cupped my chin and leaned back. "Maybe I just stopped by for a friendly chat like I am doing with you?"

"Tch." Homura turned and walked off the ledge.

"See you later Homura!" I shouted after him, a full sized grin on my face. I just loved messing around with the confused Sekirei, it was so much fun. I walked over to the edge and looked down upon the walking humans, most of them staring at two still smoking craters in the asphalt in confusion. Poor, pitiful humans of Shinto Teito, not aware that their beloved city will soon turn into a battlefield and then into a ruin, all thanks to the megalomaniac currently sitting in the MBI tower in the center of the city. They aren't aware that even now, Haihane and Kara are escorting wayward Ashikabi and their Sekirei into megapolis in the final preparations for the End of the First Stage.

Unaware, that their days of peace are running out like water through loose hands.


	18. Gate:Ashikabi

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Not sure what you're trying to accomplish here." I calmly stood on the road and stared at a floating figure before me as she tried to spear me with silky spears. I've been staring at her for good 15 minutes now; waiting for her to figure out that there's absolutely no way she can harm me as I am intangible for the Living while in Soul Form. Instead, she keeps trying and trying, using all sorts of techniques and variations of her power to hit me, all in complete silence.<p>

"Well, you can keep at it; I've got other things to do." I turned and walked through a solid wall of the nearby car parking tower, completely ignoring the sharp white strands. Sometimes, I hated phasing through solid objects because you can never be quite sure what's on the other side…or when you get to the other side. It's not a particularly bad thing, as I shouldn't truly care what is on the other side due to my intangibility but I've had situations where I'd walk in on a couple…doing things. Not a pleasant surprise for anyone involved in the situation.

This time it wasn't so bad. I've merely walked in absolute darkness for a couple minutes and then I found myself in what seemed like one of the many parks of Shinto Teito. Looking around, I could see a great big building beside the car parking tower and a light wooden fence in the distance, surrounding the park. Looks like this one was a private property type…where was I?

"Umm…are you a ghost?" I turned around to find a young girl in a white dress sitting in a wheelchair by a tree, looking at me in wonder.

"Hmm." I walked over to the small girl, towering over her. Strangely, she showed no fear and merely kept looking at me.

"Some call me Shinigami, human." I stated, deciding to mess around with the girl.

"Ah, so it's that time already?" She closed the book that lay on her lap and leaned back with a sigh. "It is such a pity that I'll never see my Uzume again…but I am ready, Shinigami. I knew I was dying for a long time so it's only fitting that you finally come for me."

Well…this is awkward. I must admit this is the first time my trolling ever backfired so badly on me. Go me, picking on a dying girl in a wheelchair. Damn I feel horrible.

"Who said I am here for you, child?" I knelt on one knee before her and suddenly, felt odd warmth spread throughout my body. Great, this little one is a Ashikabi too. Gods, her luck must be absolute shit, not only is she dying but she is also liable to get picked to be an Ashikabi for a Sekirei and then have to suffer through getting that bond cut.

"Then…why are you here?" She looked at me, confused.

"Don't know if you'd believe me," I smiled gently at her, sitting down. "But I was just passing through until you called me."

"Oh…Am I distracting you from your duties then?" She frowned. "I am sorry…I-"

"Don't worry about it." I remembered to lower my mask so she can see me smile. Considering I was in the Spirit Realm I wasn't risking anything. "Although I am a Shinigami, I don't have to chase after every single soul myself. Death finds all; I merely hunt down ones who have their appointment rescheduled to an earlier date."

It's fun to weave the truth in such an odd manner, I thought, I wasn't lying and yet... The girl smiled uncertainly at my words.

"By the way, do you know where we are?" I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. "I am afraid I took a short cut and ended up gods know where."

"Ah, this is Hiyamakai Hospital, I live here." She answered instantly.

Oh great, her sickness is bad enough that calls a hospital home. I stared at the gentle, fragile girl who sat before me calmly, obviously at peace with her situation.

"What about your parents?" I asked. "Isn't there anyone to care for you instead of staying here, in a hospital?"

"My parents are on the other side, waiting for me." She answered calmly. "The only one who stays with me nowadays is Uzume, my only friend."

"What is your name, human?" I asked, an odd emotion bubbling in my heart.

"Ah, where are my manners?" The little girl offered her hand. "I am Chiho Hidaka. Pleased to meet you."

I stared at her sincere smile. Just what is this girl who meets a ghostly being that introduces itself as the God of Death with a smile like that?

"I have many names; you can call me Rei or Shinigami." I let my hand stay over hers. "It's nice to meet you too, Chiho."

"Huh…I can't touch you." She observed, surprised as her hand phased through mine.

"Generally, when you can't touch a Shinigami," I repeated after Archive. "It's because it's not your time yet."

"Ah, I see!" She smiled, a bit of relief on her face. So she does have something to live for, I was growing worried to see her complete acceptance of death. A beeping noise sounded off on her watch and she glanced at it, frowning. "Oh, I have to go now."

I looked around to see no one and then looked at her questioningly.

"Shouldn't a nurse get you back?"

"It's fine." Chiho smiled. "I'll get back on my own, it's a bit hard but I can do it."

"Hmm." I hummed and stood up. "I'll escort you back then, wouldn't want something to happen that would cause you to cross the line before your time."

"I…thank you." She smiled at me brightly and began to use her hands to roll her wheelchair along. I watched as she struggled through, her bitten lip showing just how much this is costing her. I almost decided to intervene before I remembered my own awakening and how I denied the scientists from helping me. She wants to be strong, to live and to not be a cripple. Even now, as she struggles and breathes heavily to roll her wheelchair on the asphalt, she proves to everyone that she is not weak.

As we slowly made our way into the hospital and into the elevator, more than one nurse, doctor and patient either fainted on the spot or ran off screaming about ghosts. I grinned, as I put my mask back on, this was excellent fun, why haven't I done this before? Chiho also smiled at my obvious humour and gently laughed whenever someone fainted in a random way.

Her room was on the fifth floor, the window facing the park we just left. Her room was quite cosy, it was clear that someone lived here. The armada of plush toys standing at attention by the walls was a unique touch though I must admit.

"Uzume brings one each time she visits." Chiho told me as she got into her bed from her chair. I was surprised to see that she could actually walk, I thought she was paralyzed. But no, it seems like her legs are just far too weak to support her for more than a couple violently shaky steps. I have never seen a sickness, disease or injury like this, but then again, I am no doctor and we Sekirei don't get sick. At least, I've never heard of any sick Sekirei.

"Will you come again?" Chiho's voice broke me out of my thoughts, the owner putting aside a glass of water by a pill bottle. Clearly she just took her medicine.

"You know, most people would prefer to never see Shinigami again," I mused out loud. "Provided they survive the experience which very few have…"

"Well, it looks like many did today." She giggled. "Half the hospital in fact."

"Bah, they are all half way there anyway." I waved her argument aside. "But I'll visit you, I promise. More than once if I can manage it."

"Thank you…" Her voice was beginning to fade and she yawned. "Sorry, I-"

"Rest." I told her. "You'll see me again, I promised after all."

"Okay." She yawned once more and just like that, she was off to the land of dreams. I took a step forward and touched her forehead, dropping into the Living Realm for a second before instantly going back. I knew it; she was a very compatible Ashikabi. Just by being in the same realm as her, this close and on top of that touching her nearly sent me to my knees. I placed my hand over my armoured chest, feeling my heart beat heavily. It would seem as if fate has it in for me. Who would've thought that my Ashikabi would be a girl sitting on the edge between the Living Realm and the Spirit Realm? Hmm, it seems like Kara was right, I truly am into girls.

"Are you number 51, Rei the Reaper?" A couple of obvious Sekirei stood before me the moment I phased through the door to Chiho's room.

"Are you the strippers I ordered?" I asked, my eyes surveying their ridiculous clothing. Hikari and Hibiki were both prudes of the highest caliber compared to these 2.

"Nice." The one with short dark hair smirked while her companion with long dark green hair and a quarterstaff huffed.

"Higa wishes to speak to you."

"And do I wish to speak to him?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, he does own this hospital…" The short haired on lifted her eyes to the ceiling and whistled innocently.

"You do realize I can simply walk up to Higa, kill him and then walk away, right?" I deadpanned after checking that yes, I was in fact in Soul Form.

"You know, you got a point." The dark green haired woman nodded. "I am not sure why he'd want to invite the Reaper when it's clear he's going to get horribly murdered but who am I to speculate? I am merely the messenger."

"…I like you." I tilted my head slightly at the greenhead. "What's your name?"

"I am number 16, Toyotama." She did a slight bow, her eyes never leaving mine.

"I am number 18, Ichiya." The other one smirked.

"I don't care to learn the names of trash." I quickly shot her down before turning to Toyotama who giggled at Ichiya's outrage. "Very well, I'll meet your suicidal Ashikabi."

"It would be nice if he was more or less in one piece after you leave." Toyotama asked me carefully as we stopped near a decorated door on the final floor of the hospital. "We kind of need him."

"So long as he doesn't actively try to get himself killed, you will have no worries." I glanced at the far from comforted greenhead.

"That's why I am worried." She sighed.

I smirked and walked right through the door to find myself in a business office, full of luxurious furniture that heavily hinted that whoever owns this is not your average clerk. Sitting behind a heavy wooden table with a touchscreen was a young man in a business suit and cold black eyes.

"Welcome, I am Higa Izumi." He got up and extended his hand. I must admit, I nearly laughed at the look on his face when I walked through both his hand then him and stopped by the glass wall which looked onto the city center and the MBI tower with it.

"I know who you are, so called Ashikabi of the East." I smiled to his uncomfortable reflection. "What I don't know is why I should tolerate your presence."

"I would like to offer a deal." He straightened his tie and walked over to stand behind me. "I know you've spent time with Chiho Hidaka today and that you care for her. It is so tragic that such a nice, wonderful-"

"I wonder, what would happen if I were to phase back into the Living Realm right now?" I wondered to myself as I still stared down on the city before me, my right sword currently lodged in Higa's body. "Would you merely miss a piece of your body or will it be forced to part aside to fit my blade?"

"I can heal her." Higa continued, deathly white, after gulping. "The sickness is difficult to cure and expensive but it can be done."

"Hmm." I withdrew my sword and sheathed it, my eyes shifting to Higa's reflection who was patting the place where he was pierced but seconds ago in wonder. "Continue."

"All I'll need is a few favour-wait!" He shouted his hands before him as I moved. "Just one favour and I will cure her!"

"What favour." I turned around to finally look at the pale Ashikabi.

"I need you to kill Hayato Mikogami." He proposed quickly.

"No." I turned back, losing interest.

"Why? He is nobody to you and you stand to heal your Ashikabi!"

"Because Minaka will never stand for it you fool." I sneered at his reflection. "This haori is not for show, imbecile."

"Then maybe I'll hold the favour?" Higa offered.

"You think I'll let a mere human hold power over me?" I turned to him once more as he backed away.

"B-but she is your Ashikabi!" He yelled in fright as he tripped over the carpet and fell.

"I have no Ashikabi." I stood over him, towered over him. "I need no Ashikabi."

"You are lucky you have such loyal Sekirei that plead for you, Higa." I said casually as I walked through the glass.


	19. Gate:Yukari

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>Thankfully, even though I decided to continue patrol while slowly heading towards home, there were no more incidents. Well, none that I decided to take part in, there were a couple brief fights between Sekirei that I saw but considering how fast they ended and the fact that both parties fled, I doubt it was more than an instinctual lash out at a surprise meeting. Still, I trailed both the incidents for a few minutes to ensure that nothing will happen of them.<p>

"Ah, sister Rei!" Beni ran into me as I opened the door to our suite. "You've returned! Did anything happen?"

"Well…" I held my chin. "Yes, something did happen but I'll wait till Kara and Haihane are here before I say what I saw."

"I see," Beni stepped aside to allow me entry. "Takami called and said she'll be arriving in a little bit, it seems like they are starting to shut the Kamikura Town down."

"I see." I said simply as I sat at the bar table and looked at Beni who sat opposing me. "It would seem that Minaka is in a hurry to get First Stage done and over with."

"I…I don't like this." Beni dipped her head into her arms. "I-we've suffered so much to keep our kind safe and now…"

"You've heard Akitsu." I took off my gauntlets and proceeded to ruffle Beni's hair. "So long as you don't pulverize them into Bloody Mist, they don't actually die. We can still revive them in the end."

"That's why I am afraid." Beni's head hit the table. "I am afraid that my fear will take me over again and when I come back I'll find nothing but Bloody Mist everywhere."

"Then don't fight them directly." I offered. "You know as well as I do that we trained your abilities to be area-of-effect. Simply hit the ground near them and the splash damage from debris and shockwaves should be more than enough to at least knock them out."

"And then what?" Beni lifted her head to stare at me with those smouldering red eyes of hers. "We are unwinged and thus we cannot use our prayer to remove their crest. We have to deal enough damage for the crest to break and this leads me straight back into my original problem!"

She stood up and began to pace, her head in her arms. I watched the clearly disturbed Sekirei with a frown. Beni was right; her direct abilities are Siege-level, something to be classified as Anti-Fortress according to some anime that Haihane kept trying to get us to watch. Fate something or other, I didn't really bother remembering the name but the classification system for abilities stuck around for a bit. Anyway, using abilities intended for leveling Fortifications on a single person was…not pretty. Even her basic abilities like Pulveriser would more than likely turn the target into nothing but a fine spray of bloody matter.

"Bring a knife with you." I suggested finally. "A Misericord or a stiletto would be good. A single strike to the heart will guarantee a level 3 Deactivation and it will be quick and merciful. Just make sure to aim first, wouldn't want to hit a Tama by accident."

"Hah, yea." Beni took a shallow breath with a shaky laugh. "Wouldn't want to accidentally do a level 5 instead of level 3."

"There, problem solved." I shrugged, opening a can of pop. "Use the debris and indirect shockwaves to knockout your opponent and, if forced, proceed to deactivate them with a merciful quick strike to the heart."

"If forced?" Beni sat down again, staring at me in confusion.

"Well yea." I shrugged. "It's not like anyone is forcing you to actually deactivate or kill Sekirei most of the time. Just knocking them unconscious should be enough until the later stages."

We sat for a while, Beni thinking about something, her eyes on her fists which opened and closed occasionally while I merely sat and drank. Takami was going to come over with 107 and 108, the last of the misplaced batch. She managed to wrestle a couple more months' worth of time for their development and final adjustments but Minaka insisted that they stay in the MBI Tower during this time. This was going to force Takami to travel all over the city for their training as their abilities happened to be too powerful to be used in proximity to MBI Tower. I heard that the first time number 107, Shiina used his powers he turned most of the Initiation stadium into dust. Given time and effort, the male Sekirei would grow up to be a fearsome opponent with wide area disintegration attacks.

Amusingly enough, number 108, Kusano, who is Shiina's best friend has the power to grow plant life anywhere and everywhere she deems fit. Hell, I think the first time I've seen Akitsu distressed was on her Initiation. She somehow managed to grow a gigantic jungle inside the Initiation Stadium which is barren rock and nothing else. It took MBI forever to clean it up or so Akitsu complained. When Shiina had his initiation right after they finished cleaning up the stadium, I've heard Akitsu raged for the first time in her life. Thankfully, 108 was the last so the poor workers didn't have to clean up the gigantic iceberg that the Initiation Stadium was turned into.

Both 107 and 108 are going to be mighty fine Sekirei when – if - they grow up and train their power. I've noticed one simple thing over the past 3 and half years. Those Sekirei who train and push the limits on their powers become far stronger than those who are fine with using what they have. It is for this simple reason that Kara is currently the strongest Sekirei. Well, it's not quite true; she's merely the strongest in single combat. As it stands, Beni is probably the strongest Siege-Type Sekirei capable of leveling buildings with a single blow.

It's a bit funny but while Kara could kill Beni in less than 10 seconds – most of which would be chasing down Beni as she ran away screaming – but she couldn't reliably destroy a fortification or a building. Beni on the other hand is a bit too slow to viably fight in duels but give her a stationary target like a building or a fortress or a bunker and it's going to be reclassified as debris in seconds.

All things considered, I rather like our group composition right now. We have the unstoppable juggernauts like Kara with Beni and an assassin-like Haihane. I acted either as a distraction or as damage sponge, allowing my team to get to the targets. It's a pity none of us have any true ranged attacks but with our speed only someone who is actually capable of flying is a threat and as far as I know only Kazehana can do that. I was also far too dangerous to leave alone, after all, where Kara was the captain I was her faithful lieutenant for a reason. Kara and I occasionally had our students pick one of us to gang up on and try to defeat the person they picked. Amusingly enough, they picked Kara a lot more often than me because she was far less frustrating to fight against.

Sure Kara's skill made it impossible for them to even touch her but at least they could try. With me though, they couldn't be sure that I'd merely let them pass through me only to phase straight back into Living World to attack them with their back to me. Fighting me one on one was a nightmare because of this and only due to quick reactions and superb teamwork Haihane and Beni managed to stay 'alive' longer than a couple minutes in our spars.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by my phone ringing. Or rather my earpiece I guess, as I had my phone integrated into the collar of my armour and only my Bluetooth headpiece actually showed outside, masked as a small earring. It took me a long time to find a design I approved of and now my headpiece looked like a tiny black nodachi with red edges. Kara was very receptive of the design and showed me just how much she appreciated it that night.

"I am listening." One problem with my earpiece is that I never knew just who was actually calling me.

"Hey Rei." Takami's voice came through. "Listen, I've got a personal request to ask of you."

"Go on." I frowned. This would be the first time Takami actually asked me to do a personal request.

"My daughter is arriving to Shinto Teito today and I am currently very busy with Shiina and Kusano." She sounded hesitant as if still wondering if this is a good idea. "I was going to have Akitsu pick her up but there was an incident back in Kamikura and she is currently overseeing the morons there."

"You want me to pick up your daughter and escort her through the city." I replied, this request wasn't all that unnatural to be honest, I knew Takami loved her kids and was rather protective of them. "You do realize that it is quite possible that she is at least a latent Ashikabi, right?"

"It's…her life." Takami sad voice answered. "I tried to get her to pick another University but she insisted on the Shinto Teito one and wouldn't take no for an answer. I on the other hand couldn't tell her why going here is a bad idea."

"Secrecy and what not." I nodded to thin air as Beni looked at me weirdly. "What if I show a reaction?"

"That's why I phoned you. I know that if you react than you have the ability to deny it by going to Spirit Realm."

"Your daughter is going to have a lot of questions for you if I phase into Soul Form in front of her." I laughed, imagining the picture.

"I'll deal with it." Takami sighed. "Well? Will you do it?"

"Of course Takami." I smiled. "Do you really expect me to deny you your first request ever? Not a chance. Send her picture and detail to Beni's phone though; I am sure you know why."

"Yea yea, I still say you should let us put a holo-projector into that armour." Takami grumbled and I heard a series of tapping in the background. "There, sent, now I need to go call my wayward son… Thank you Rei."

"Not a problem Takami." I ended the conversation and turned to Beni who rolled her eyes but gave me her phone. So, Yukari Sahashi, age 18, is arriving to the Shinto Teito Maglev train station at 5:00 so in about an hour. She looked very different from her gray haired mother to be honest. In fact, I don't think I'd ever think they were related if it wasn't for this picture where she's standing smiling by Takami's side and her mother's request. She also seemed slightly shorter than her mother according to this but the difference was negligible.

I sent the email to the printer and handed the phone back to Beni with thanks.

"Are you really going to go meet an Ashikabi?" Beni looked at me oddly.

"I've met two so far today." I said absentmindedly as I checked the printed sheet to see that it was correct. "What's one more?"

"But what if you react?" I turned to notice Beni stare with me, an unknown expression on her face.

"Then there will be another ghost story in Shinto Teito." I smiled and reached over to ruffle her hair. "Don't worry, nothing will happen. Stay here and wait for my return."

"Alright." Beni saw me off to the door and waved goodbye.

* * *

><p>"Attention, train arriving. Caution: Train." A calm female voice announced and pushed myself from the wall I was leaning on and walked over to the mostly empty train station. It was practically rush hour but not quite, so aside from me there were maybe half a thousand people as opposed to a thousand. With a soft electrical hum and a rush of air the maglev train shot by, decelerating to a distance away. I, not knowing where my target was, stood directly in the center, my height allowing me to see the whole hundred meter long train station with ease.<p>

Now that I stop to think about it, this might be quite difficult as the doors opened and a flood of humans came out. Just how the hell was I supposed to find 1 with only a picture to go off of? Even though this was far from rush hour traffic, there were just far too many people in this place for me to find one. I began to feel panic; failing Takami was never an option. As I searched about I felt someone pull at my haori and turned to find a small girl staring up at me with awe, a large bag in her hand.

"Are you Rei?" She asked, her head pointing practically upwards because we stood so close.

"Are you Yukari Sahashi?" I turned to face her as she let go of my haori. "Daughter of Takami?"

"Yep, that's me!" She did a weird pose and then roamed over me with her eyes. "Say…just how tall are you?"

"Last I checked it was 203 centimetres, why?" I raised an eyebrow at her question. Very few actually bothered to ask me my exact height. They just went 'whoa, tall' and that was it.

"You are huge." She said seriously. "Are you really a woman?"

"…" I glanced at myself. I must admit it might be a bit hard to tell with the haori acting as a drape that covered my armour from view and thus, my body. But I thought I looked female enough, my face anyway. Except that my mouth and cheeks were covered with a mask… "Yes."

"Sorry, it's a bit hard to tell." The girl apologized. "I only have your voice and half the face to go off of."

"It is not a problem." I sighed. "Takami asked me to accompany you as Akitsu cannot."

"You know aunt Akitsu?" Yukari stared at me in wonder with those dark blue eyes of hers. "Then you must be working for MBI too?"

"Yes." I tilted my head slightly. "You know that Takami works for MBI?"

"Mother said that she and aunt Akitsu both work for MBI pharmaceutical division and that is where she met Akitsu." Yukari shrugged, the information obviously not meaning anything to her. "Anyway, we should probably get going, I need to drop by my brother's place and give him clothes."

"Clothes?" I asked as we began to walk towards the exit, people parting way before me as always.

"Yea, he phoned me earlier today randomly and asked me to bring my clothes." Yukari answered cheerfully. "I guess he got lonely, that pervert."  
>"…"<p>

"I am joking." Yukari laughed at my raised eyebrows. "I don't actually know why he needs my clothes but I doubt it's for a bad reason."

"Right…" I sighed as we walked on. "What can you tell me about your brother?"

"Ah, he's very smart and incredibly kind!" Yukari told me dreamily as we walked through the streets. "But he's also too kind for his own damn good and his nerves can't handle pressure at all…it's sad a bit, really, because he's so smart but he failed twice now in getting into the University here. Something about his mind shutting down from the exam atmosphere."

"That is quite unfortunate." I agreed with her. "If he can't handle as little as that the world will eat him up alive."

"Brrr." She shook herself. "I'd hate for that to happen to my stupid but very lovable brother."

As we walked, our conversation somehow jumped from her brother, to history, to sciences, to Yukari's dreams of working with her mother to her perverted fantasies about Akitsu – I've had to smack her lightly on her head here to wake her up from a daydream as she began to salivate, I was rather creeped out. Thankfully, at this point we reached our destination, a typical apartment building. To my surprise, an MBI delivery van drove off from parking right as we walked up to it. I began to have slight suspicions at this point. What seems like a typical quiet student suddenly phones her sister and asks her to bring him her old clothes out of nowhere. Than an MBI delivery van drives off right before we reach his house. Perhaps in other conditions this would've meant nothing but now…in Shinto Teito…I think I know what we are about to find in the room of this Minato Sahashi. Or rather, whom.

"We are here!" Yukari struck another pose, dropping her bag on the ground. "Let's find out what my brother is up to!"

"Lead the way." I ignored her weird behaviour.


	20. Gate:Sahashi

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Brother, I am here!" Yukari just straight up walked into a room that I guess is her brother, ignoring the common curtesy of knocking. "I am surprised; I'd have thought you'd live all alone and dirty."<p>

"Yukari?!" A male voice asked incredulously.

"Yep! You should be more careful, your door was open." She gave a light hearted laugh.

"W-why are you here?"

"…Didn't you ask me to bring clothes?" Yukari asked him, surprised. "And anyway, is this how you treat your precious little sister you haven't seen for a year?"

"I-"

"Although to be honest I am here because I got accepted into the Shinto Teito University but I kind of didn't want to rub this in your face."

"You just did!"

"Oups." Yukari laughed. "Hey, so who is this here with you?"

I knew it, I thought as I took a deep breath. Takami is going to be pissed…

"Yukari, is everything alright?" I walked in, finding Yukari standing beside fairly tall man who…wait…I've seen this guy earlier today. "You…?"

"Ah! The person I ran into this morning!" The young man exclaimed. "I am so sorry about running off before I learned your name."

"Ah, Lady Rei!" Now this voice I definitely know. "It's nice to see you again!"

"Hello, Musubi." I nodded my head slightly. "I see you found who you were looking for?"

"Yep!" Musubi grabbed her Ashikabi by the hand, the poor guy turning red as he found his hand buried deep in her cleavage.

"You two know each other?" Yukari stared in confusion between us. "Does she work for MBI too?"

"No." I silenced Musubi with a glance. "We merely met each other before, nothing more."

"Musubi you know this person?" Minato turned to his Sekirei and whispered to her, trying to be inconspicuous but failing terribly.

"Yep! Lady Rei is very strong and she helped me before and she's a very good friend of Lady Karasuba!" Excitable Musubi as always didn't bother lowering her voice. "Oh wait. Isn't this where dis-cre-tion is used…or something?"

"Erm, yes I guess." Minato tried to laugh it off even as Yukari stared at the duo suspiciously. Thankfully, he was saved by his cell phone that rang out, breaking the growing tension.

"Who is she, really?" Yukari whispered to me…as much as she could whisper anyway with me being a head and a half taller.

"She is Musubi and trust me, that is all you need to know." I silently tried to convey to her that it's best she doesn't keep digging. Her brother is already in this mess, Takami will go berserk if her daughter winds up involved too.

"Hmph. Fine." She pursed her lips together and then bounced over to Musubi. "Hi, I am Yukari, Minato's sister!"

"I am Musubi!" Musubi looked like she wanted to add more but then caught herself and laughed nervously.

"I see," Yukari narrowed her eyes at Musubi, studying her clothes even as the hapless Sekirei stood there, completely lost. I smirked beneath my mask. To think Yume's container is so helpless…it's ironic.

"We are going shopping!" Yukari suddenly called out, interrupting Minato's phone conversation and my own musing.

"Huh? Wait, then I'll come to-" Minato looked wildly over from his phone.

"Stupid brother, you can't come." Yukari grinned and suddenly was behind Musubi, groping her as the Sekirei squeaked. "There are stores only us girls can enter you know."

"Ooh…" Yukari's eyes rounded in shock even as Minato muttered to himself, not knowing what she was talking about. "What size is this, F? G? These are huge…"

"Anyway, I am borrowing Musubi for a bit, see you later brother!" And just like that we were suddenly standing on the street before a red Minato.

"Be careful, it's your first time here." The boy called to Yukari, worry in his eyes.

"Tch, I already have Rei here for that." Yukari muttered as we walked on. "It's frustrating how he treats me like a kid."

"Oh? And weren't you calling yourself his little sister just minutes ago?" I grinned, Takami's kids were funny.

"Whatever." Yukari frowned as we walked on.

"Minato is a really gentle person." Musubi smiled dreamily.

"Well…true," Yukari grumbled. "But aside from that he's got no redeeming points."

"My adjuster told me once," Musubi looked to the sky with a smile. "There is no strength or will without gentleness as being gentle is the hardest thing. I really like gentle Minato."

We were silent for a minute after that, Yukari slowly reddening while I smiled, looking into the sky. It seems like Musubi is a truly a fitting vessel for Yume, her persona…I think if Yume was to take an apprentice like me and Kara, it would be no other than Musubi.

"I…I actually like that about him too." Yukari finally whispered, more to herself than anyone else. After looking up to see us both stare at her she reddened further before stating.

"Erm, but beside that he's just a bum." She laughed, rubbing her hair in embracement. "Still, I am envious; I'd like a boyfriend too…"

"Well, there are a few male Sekirei…"

"Musubi." I interrupted her sternly.

"Ah, sorry!" She waved her hands in surrender before frowning. "This dis-cre-tion thingy is really hard…"

"…" I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed as Yukari stared at us suspiciously.

"Now I really know there's something going on!" She accused us. "What is it?"

"Yukari." I stared at her heavily causing for the small girl to flinch and take a step back. "Stop, poking into this business. If you get involved, Takami will kill you. For real."

"Ah! This also came with these clothes!" Musubi suddenly pulled out an MBI card from a pocket within her dress. "We use this to buy stuff…I think."

"An MBI member card? A gold one too?" Yukari stared at it with surprise. These cards were extremely rare; in fact there were only 107 of them in existence. "Just who are you, Musubi…"

I tilted my head to stare at Yukari who laughed nervously and rubbed her head.

"Right, never mind. Let's go!"

As we walked on I saw someone in front of me that I definitely did not expect. I sped up slightly to walk in front of Yukari and Musubi so I could defend them if need be.

"Kazehana."

"Why, if it isn't the Reaper." The woman in the provocative Chinese dress and a bottle in her hands stood before me. "Long time, no see."

"I see they even got you to come too, huh." My hands just happened to touch my swords beneath my haori.

"Whatever, I don't care." Kazehana looked at me, irritated. "Let them try and catch the wind."

"Hmm." I relaxed and turned away. "It would be for the best if they couldn't catch the wind for as long as possible. Good luck, 3rd."

"Hmph." She strode away, not bothering to look behind, her long black hair gently floating in the wind.

"Who was-" It took a single glance from me to get Yukari to shut up. "Just what is going on in this city…damn secrets all over the place!"

"So…my mother sends someone called The Reaper as my escort in the city." Yukari muttered, clutching her head in frustration as both Musubi and I looked at her, Musubi curiously while I was just plain amused. "Just who the hell is my mother?!"

"Ah, Takami is-" Finding my heavy, gloved hand on her shoulder Musubi giggled nervously. "Never mind! Shutting up now!"

"And now there's a ton of MBI helicopters in the sky too." Yukari glanced upward. "Somehow I think my mother got you to act as my handler, not my guide…so many secrets that are so far…"

I merely grinned on, this was fun.

* * *

><p>"…" I stared at the lingerie Yukari was shoving into my face. "I don't use those."<p>

"What?" The small woman stared at me incredulously. "You don't wear underwear?"

"I wear panties." I calmly replied. "But I have no need of this 'bra' you are offering."

"No way." She stared at me. "Are they really that small? I feel sorry for you now."

"They are roughly your size; I just never found the need to use this piece of cloth you are offering to me." I explained to her patiently. "I wear a suit that offers me all of the support I'll ever need."

"Right…" She still stared at me weirdly.

"Why are we here?" I asked her, trying to guide her back to our original purpose.

"Ah!" She spun and locked onto Musubi. "Musubi! Try this!"

"Eh?!"

* * *

><p>"Somehow I think Minato is going to curse you tonight." I stated as we walked towards Yukari's friend's place where she will be staying tonight.<p>

"Hehe, or maybe he'll thank me tomorrow morning, hmm?" She rubbed her hands deviously, her face dangerously red.

"Even I saw enough of your brother to know that he's not ready for that." I sighed. "And as you saw, Musubi is missing some…valuable life knowledge to initiate first contact."

"Damn. You're right." Yukari smacked her fist into her hand. "I did not think of that."

"I hope your first day here was enjoyable." I stopped at the fence of the house she was about to walk in.

"Tch, with all of these damn secrets everywhere…" Yukari growled as she turned to me on the other side of the fence. "And the worst part is I can't even go after them…"

I laughed as she hanged her head in defeat and then reached over and ruffled her hair.

"Some secrets may cost you your life little human." I reached up and removed my mask for the first time, grinning widely. "Perhaps it would be for the best if you don't look too carefully for them, mmm?"

Yukari in turn stared at my face, seeing it clearly for the first time.

"Good bye, Yukari." I waved lazily and headed off home, my grin still on my face.

"Human…" I heard her mutter, my grin stretching even wider. "Mother, what the hell did you get into…?"

* * *

><p>"I am sorry, Rei." Beni sniffled as we both stared through a window. "I…I tried to get there as fast as I could but-"<p>

"Enough, Beni." I turned my gaze to her and brought her to my chest causing the smaller Sekirei to squeak in surprise. "You saved Takami that is all that matters."

"B-"

"Silence." I ordered my faithful student, hugging her closer. "As I said, that is all that matters. We will find whoever did this and then we will make them pay. But for now…"

I looked at Takami's broken form, doctors dashing about with machinery doing everything they could to save her life. Even now, lying unconscious and heavily injured she caused MBI employees to run amok in panic with her sheer presence. I couldn't help but smirk, only Takami…although. I glanced at Akitsu standing beside us, who came the instant she heard the news, I bet Akitsu would be the same if she was ever on a surgery table.

While I was busy acting like a guide and bodyguard to Yukari, Takami took number 108, Kusano to the training ground in MBI Botanical Garden. However, a short while after they've arrived, someone attacked the training ground. The guards did their best but the result is 23 corpses sliced to pieces, missing Kusano and about a dozen grievously injured people left for dead, Takami included. Minaka sent reinforcements, led by Beni, the moment word of attack reached but they came too late.

In the destruction that the attackers and the defending Kusano wrought upon the Garden, no records whatsoever remained of what actually happened. The current theory is that a Sekirei with a sharp weapon or powers that caused slicing wounds attacked Kusano and everyone else just got in the way. There's no real proof of this however as practically everyone but Takami died before they could be stabilized and now the only witnesses left were Takami and a couple mangled guards in a medical coma.

At first I was raring to go on site and investigate but its currently night and I would be of absolutely no use there. However, Akitsu and I agreed to go together tomorrow afternoon after Akitsu puts all of Takami's and her own things in order. Until then though, we could do nothing but wait and look through the glass as the doctors scramble to pull Takami from the other side…in fact.

"What do you see?" Akitsu asked me softly as I shifted into Soul Form.

"I-I can see her spirit's flames." I said in a pained tone. "But it's growing faint, it seems like the doctors are winning this fight."

Indeed, I could see the blue flame of Takami's soul but no actual orb as that was still within the center of her chest. Thankfully, the flames withered and faded, the body greedily sucking them back in and I knew, that she was going to be fine now.

"We finished stabilizing her." A doctor walked out and collapsed to sit against the wall. "But god damn that was a close one."

"When will she awake?" Akitsu asked the worry for her Ashikabi practically material in her voice.

"Well, I'd say in a couple days." The doctor gave a tired laugh. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she wakes up in an hour and starts yelling at us for not doing our jobs perfectly enough."

The four of us laughed at that, the tension finally leaving us feeling weak in the knees.

"Come on Beni." I pulled my student with me. "We both need rest after shit like this."

I don't know about Beni, but I need a lot of alcohol after this. This incident scratched at the barely healed wound that was losing Yume for me. I almost lost another important person and again, I couldn't even fucking do anything about it. It frustrated me to no end and the only reason I appeared so calm on the outside is because I knew, without doubt, that heads will roll for this. I will ensure it.


	21. Gate:Forest

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…"<p>

"…"

"Why do I keep waking up with people in my bed?" I groaned, my headache killing me.

"Is this how Karasuba wound up in your bed?" A soft voice spoke beside me, the owner of said voice lying flat against me, her cool body feeling extremely pleasant to touch.

"Actually no." I sighed, my eyes on the roof of my room. "I ended up in Kara's bed rather than the other way around."

"I see." Akitsu calmly stood up and began to hunt for her clothes which were all over the room, her pale body bathed in the morning light, drawing my eyes to her.

"I don't remember much…" She turned to me and smiled a little, a faint blush on her cheeks. "But I liked it, thank you Rei."

A phone ring raised me out of stupor and I saw Akitsu bend over, reaching for her phone and the sight of her perfect long legs and firm shapely behind freezing me in my bed again.

"Takami?" Akitsu asked, her voice laced with desperation and longing. "Are you alright?!"

"What?" I immediately stood up and practically teleported over to Akitsu's side, all headache and my overall nakedness forgotten. "Is she-?"

Akitsu merely handed me the phone, her eyes roaming over my body with a faint blush back on her cheeks.

"Takami?! Are you alright?" I asked my voice suddenly hoarse.

"Yes, Rei." She said back tiredly. "I am fine but the doctors say it will be at least a week before I can get out of here. Now, can you please hand the phone over to Akitsu?"

"Wait, who was the one who did this to you?" Although my relief was as noticeable as Akitsu's I still needed to know the culprit.

"Going to go after her, huh?" Takami sighed. "She never introduced herself. It was some Sekirei with a scythe and I don't remember who she was so she's probably one of the first ones to be released."

"Damn, that isn't giving me much." I began to pace, my phone in my hand, Akitsu's eyes on my moving body.

"That's not what's important right now." Takami coughed. "F-find Kusano. The last thing I remember is that Kusano managed to beat her back with the growth she made. She's probably still in that Garden, waiting for us to save her."

"I…I understand." I closed my eyes briefly and stopped moving. "I will do it."

"Good, now…tell Akitsu to come see me when she can, I have much to pass onto her seeing as I am bed locked for now." Takami grumbled.

Rubbing my forehead I gave the phone back to Akitsu who finally stopped devouring me with her eyes, her face redder than I've ever seen it and told her Takami's request. Akitsu nodded and quickly finished dressing. I also put on my tracksuit, ready to go for morning practise and then I'll go off and search for Kusano.

"Rei…"

"?"

I stared at Akitsu as she disappeared from my room and closed the door, still feeling her cool lips on mine. She must've really liked what we did here last night…and Kara is going to murder me. I practically cried at this thought. Gods damn my unnatural habit of waking up with other women in my or their beds!

Hang on, but then I would've never been as close as I am to Kara now would I… You know what, gods? Thank you for this amazing habit! Except that I am still going to die when Kara arrives tomorrow. Hmm, dilemma. I cannot not tell her about Akitsu. I may not feel to her what I feel for Kara but I am definitely drawn towards her. And judging by her reaction, she feels the same. I wonder what Kara would decide. After all, I am by far not the leading one in this relationship.

* * *

><p>"Lady Rei!" The MBI captain on scene snapped to a salute and all of the soldiers patrolling the area did the same.<p>

"At ease, captain." I waved the formalities aside; I didn't come here for this. Somehow a bunch of random work piled up on me today with Minaka constantly bugging me to do stupid stuff. By the time I managed to get away and head over to the Botanical Gardens it was evening already!"Instead, give me a report on the situation in general and the search in detail."

"Yes milady." The man nodded and took a tired breath. "We've secured the area the moment we arrived with Lady Benitsubasa yester-evening. There is currently 4 companies standing guard at gates and two more are patrolling the inside, guarding the investigators."

"So far, we've just finished recovering all of the bodies and body parts of our fallen comrades and the investigators are compiling a report right as we speak." The man continued before turning and offering me to walk with him. "We've also spotted several Sekirei prowling on the outskirts, looking for a way in. So far they've avoided probing our defences, praise the gods."

"What sort of equipment do you have on site?" I asked as we walked to the tent where the investigators were. "Why do I not see any Specialists here?"

"Unfortunately all we have are regular soldiers and light armour." The captain frowned. "As you see, we are practically defenceless against any Sekirei who will actually attack so I am very relieved that someone like you is here."

"Strange." I muttered to myself as we walked into the tent. "Something doesn't add up here…"

Specialists are humans of extreme renown and skill that MBI collects to form a separate platoon. They are few, very few, maybe less than 50 total, I am not sure. However, each Specialist is capable of going toe to toe with an average Sekirei and, if not buy time, then at least not die in seconds. They are led by captains who are legends in their own rights. Currently, MBI has 4 Specialist Captains; they still haven't found a replacement for Dietrich. I only know their first names though: Leroy, the acting Commander, Anton the 2nd Captain, Mathew the 3rd Captain and Andromeda the 4th Captain.

Generally, unless the Disciplinary Squad is on scene, all MBI squads expected to run into Sekirei are reinforced with at least a handful Specialists if not a Captain. So to see something big like this guarded only by MBI grunts is…ridiculous. It's almost as if all of these people are thrown away as bait. Hmm, that would actually make sense. Perhaps they are to be as bait while there is a Specialist squad somewhere in vicinity, ready to pounce at first opportunity. Still, I am not particularly keen on having humans loyal to our cause die for nothing.

"Sir! Milady!" A young looking soldier standing guard on the inside gave a salute, alerting 6 people who were pouring over piles of paper of our presence.

"Ah, Lady Rei." The eldest of these people, a man in his 50s wearing an MBI ID uniform bowed before me. "We've been expecting you."

"What have you found?" I strolled over to the table and glanced at the papers. Hmm, heavily drawn on maps, tons of what seemed like reports, a few satellite images…

"We have estimated the position of 108, Kusano." The man picked up a map practically buried beneath scribbles and markings and then pointed at a small area shaded in red. "We believe that she is currently in this area. Of course, we haven't actually scouted the area in fear of either startling the little one or if she's hostile then I fear it will only serve to be the death of the scouts."

"Good work, gentlemen." I grabbed the map and studied it intently before carefully wrapping it up and putting it into the pocket of my coat. "Your work here is done, wrap up camp and-"

"Captain! Sir! Come in!" The MBI captain who was conversing with the guard in low tones got startled and then reached for the radio. "North Gate has been breached; I repeat, 2 Sekirei have destroyed the North Gate!"

"Tell them to secure what's left; I am moving out to them." I ordered the captain before turning to the aged ID operative. "Pack up the camp and evacuate. This is an order."

Not even bothering to listen to anything else the humans have to say, I shifted into Soul Form and began sprinting to North Gate. I like going to places while in Soul Form, it's so much faster when you simply don't care about anything in your way. Within several minutes I was at North Gate which was directly opposite of the main MBI camp which was at South Gate.

"Put down your weapons you imbeciles!" An injured officer who sat by a burning armored transport called out to the half a dozen soldiers who still moved amongst the wreckage of machinery and moaning bodies. "Lady Rei, I am glad to see you here."

"What happened here?" I walked over to the officer who was currently being bandaged up by a medic, my haori billowing amongst the flames of the scene. How familiar this was to me…I stopped before the officer, listening to the crackle of flames, moans and cries from the soldiers and the faint howl of the wind.

"About 5 minutes ago our position was approached by what we thought were 2 young women at first." The officer coughed. "However, before we could so much as take proper aim as per standard procedure, we were blasted by a lightning bolt which chained through the armoured transports, igniting them. In the following explosions and chaos, we could do nothing to stop them from entering with 2 males with them. Thankfully, no one actually died."

"I see." I nodded. "Evacuate the scene, your job is over. The place has been breached and will soon turn into a battle zone where humans like you can do nothing but die."

"I understand, milady." The officer stood up with the help of the medic and began calling his men to him in preparation for evacuation.

I was about to go inside before stopping and turning 180 degrees.

"You are not the one who did this, Homura." Before me stood Homura with Musubi by his side who looked lost. "But if you attack, I will not be able to ignore you."

"You…" Homura stared at me, fire slowly crackling about his hands. "Why are you here?"

"What do you mean why?" I stared at him like at an idiot. "I am here to pick up investigation into Takami's attacker and to recover 108."

"What?" Homura straightened up, confused, his fire gone out. "What do you mean recover 108? Minaka sent a mass email several hours ago saying that the girl was first come first serve."

"…"I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "I see, it makes sense to me now. And you are here to ensure that only her True Ashikabi comes for her."

Seeing him nod, I stepped aside.

"Get going, I'll oversee evacuation and then I'll come myself." Homura stared at me for a moment before he and Musubi ran through the wreckage and into the gardens.

"East Gate is under attack! I repeat East Gate-" The transmission from one of the radios lying on the ground cut off in a scream.

"This is Rei," I picked up the radio. "East Gate, withdraw."

"It's a bit too late for that." A girly laughter came through the radio before cutting out as I crushed the thing in anger. What the fuck was Minaka thinking? These men…he just sent them all here to die! I shifted back into Soul Form and sprinted to East Gate, arriving there in under a minute to find a kid and…

"Hello, Rei." Mutsu slowly drew his sword. "I've been looking forward to meeting you again."

"You…are you the one who killed all of these men?" I looked at the mutilated bodies and burning transports, some of them with great slash marks on their armour.

"No, that would be number 43, Yomi." Mutsu admitted easily. "She's currently inside recovering 108 for us."

"Mutsu, get her already, I want her in my collection!" Hayato Mikogami, a 15 year old kid who thought he ended up in a real game. If Minaka hadn't specifically ordered us to leave the Ashikabi alone, I'd have gone after this damn kid's head that treated his Sekirei like toys.

"And what makes you think I won't just leave?" I asked, still in Soul Form.

"Because then we'd go after the MBI main camp, it's only about 10 minutes away anyway." The kid smiled.

"You know…" I shifted to Living Realm. "I've been thinking about killing you for a long time, Hayato Mikogami. But I couldn't, because the rules forbid it."

"That's right! So Mutsu-" The kid started something but I merely talked over him.

"However, if you were to be caught in an area-of-effect technique accidentally, then that would be merely an accident, wouldn't it?" I pulled out my swords and began walking to the rapidly paling kid. "So easy to cover up in a battle…"

"Y-you wouldn't…"

"Master!" Mutsu dashed forward just in time to block my blade which was about to slice off Hayato's head. "Get back! Now!"

I merely switched target to the Sekirei standing before me and began to hack at him, rapidly increasing my speed. Kara had told me about Mutsu, the Earthbender Sekirei who could cause earthquakes and move the earth. It was imperative to get him on pure defence so he couldn't use any of his abilities.

Surprisingly, his sword skill with that nodachi was rather poor – compared to Kara anyway - and so far only his speed and reflexes were saving him from suffering more than shredded clothing. However, I couldn't allow this fight to keep going for much further, I needed to recover 108.

"Tch."Mutsu grimaced as my blade, empowered with Gate:Open, sliced through his sword and traced a line down his body, drawing first blood. Before I could follow up with another Gate:Open though, Mutsu executed a fast backflip and smashed the pommel of his sword on the ground.

"Smashing Point!" He called out and suddenly, cracks ran through the asphalt, destroying the area and charging towards me. I merely used the charged Gate:Open of my sword on myself and ignored the rumbling ground and the great chunks of asphalt flying all over the place. Now was a good time to get out of here, thanks to the chaos of Mutsu's attack. I dashed back towards the Garden, specifically the place shaded red on the map. After a couple minutes, I arrived to find a demolished clearing and a naked woman lying face down in the sliced moss. After turning her over and noticing complete lack of life, I guessed that this was a Sekirei who lost a fight and was terminated, most likely level 1 based on the lack of injuries.

"Well…what a pity." I stared at the corpse in disappointment, her broken scythe in my hands. So this is the one who attacked Takami and then the soldiers at East Gate. The types of wounds I've seen definitely fit with this sort of weapon. This must be number 43, Yomi…but if she's here, then where is everyone else? I glanced about and noticed a path heading north full of broken branches and trampled grass. They must've come through here I reasoned as I switched back to Soul Form and dashed to North Gate.

* * *

><p>"Homura."<p>

"Rei." Homura's hands lit up in orange flames, the rest of those behind him also preparing for a fight. I was rather surprised by the composition of the group before me. Homura, numbers 11 and 12, Musubi, and two humans one of which was carrying Kusano. I looked at him closer and found out that it was Minato Sahashi. Well, damn, this just made my job so much harder.

"Can you just let us through?" The thug looking Ashikabi of Hikari and Hibiki scratched his head and asked.

"I am here to recover number 108." I simply stated, still standing at the North Gate, cutting off the group's escape, Yomi's broken scythe in my hands. "It would be rather unfortunate if I'll have to kill you all to do it."

"But, there are 6 of us here." Minato tried to reason. "Surely you wouldn't want to fight odds like these?"

"Who said I'd have to fight?" I walked forward in my Soul Form, preparing to do Gate:Swap on Kusano.

"Wait!" Homura dashed before me and extinguished his fire. "Minato is her Ashikabi. A True one!"

I paused and stared at the Sekirei Guardian. Well, this piece of information just changed everything. I tilted my head in thought, on one hand I can still do my mission and get 108 to Takami or I can let them go and I am pretty sure Takami would understand.

"Where do you live?" I turned to Minato. It was rather sad but I forgot where the poor guy lived so I couldn't come and check later on Kusano's condition.

"At Izumo Inn." Minato answered readily, looking at my hazy, see-through form with fear.

"Ah, then everything is fine." I turned and began walking straight through the forest towards the MBI tower. "Bye bye."

"You're just going to walk away like this?" The thug Ashikabi asked incredulously, his Sekirei staring at him like he was a madman.

"Why not?" I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder, stopping my walk. "Miya will take care of her better than MBI will."

"You got a point there." The thug rubbed his stubby beard with a thought.

"Although, thank you for reminding me." I turned to face the thug Ashikabi. "Hikari, Hibiki, you 2 are incredibly lucky today."

"Huh?" The twins exchanged glances with their Ashikabi.

"When you attacked the North Gate, you didn't kill anyone." I continued. "As the Disciplinary Squad, we are in charge of making sure all rules are followed. Especially ones like where you shouldn't attack MBI, civilians and Ashikabi."

"Yet you've killed dozens of civilians." Homura stated, causing Minato to look at me in horror.

"I've killed human trash." I denied the allegations. "Bandits, rapists that sort of thing. Trash doesn't count as civilians."

"Even if said trash are Ashikabi." I added after a second's worth of thought.

"Y-you killed an Ashikabi?" Now Minato really paled.

"Considering I prevented that trash from forcing itself on one of my kin, I think I did a good thing." I replied. "That and because he didn't wing her, he wasn't an Ashikabi technically yet."

"Anyway, I got an evacuation to oversee." I am waved carelessly at them and walked off through the forest, ignoring the physical objects as usual.

"How can she just walk through things!?" Minato asked the thug as I began to walk away.

"That is the power of number 51, the Reaper…"


	22. Gate:Izumo

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"A-Akitsu! I-"<p>

"Shh." A cool finger touched my lips even as the other danced across my stomach. "You and I both wanted this."

"Bu-" Before I could protest more I was silenced with lips that tasted like a delicious snow cone. And just like that, all and any defence I got literally melted away and I grabbed the bountiful woman into my grasp, deepening the kiss…

I dipped my head down as I sat on the ledge of a random building in the East part of Shinto Teito. I swear, I have no idea what to do now. It's rather funny but women are going to be the death of me.

When I reported the situation to Takami she laid there, quiet, smoking one cigarette after another for quite a while. I guess it's hard for her to know that Minato is making bonds that are only going to be shattered and stolen away. On the other hand, if anyone, it will be Minato who will surround young Kusano with the love she deserves. I could see the emotion in his eyes every time he looked at Musubi and considering he must've winged her very recently; he must understand what having an Ashikabi means to us Sekirei.

In the end, Takami never said anything; she merely lay there and smoked, staring at the ceiling. Instead, I got pulled over by Akitsu who asked me to tell her everything that happened in the Botanical Garden. Somehow, throughout the story we slowly wound up at the bar and then magically ended up in my bedroom and then…

I dropped my face into my arms, feeling heat creep up my neck. Really, what the hell was going on? For the longest time I thought of Akitsu like my lovable elder sister. Well, it seems I got the lovable part right at least. Gods! Shouldn't Takami be the one to go after her? Oh wait, she's got 2 children so I doubt that she'd go after Akitsu even if she is a goddess who descended straight from heaven to this sinful world…

I fell back, my armoured back hitting the roof with a clatter, softened by my haori, and stared at the cloudless blue sky. Then I sat up suddenly. If I am just going to sit here, then sooner or later, my thoughts are going to boil my blood to such a point that I'll just go and jump Akitsu. Although now that I think about it, that's a pretty good –

With effort I threw myself down onto the street, wind whistling through my ears as I fell. After I climbed out of the crater I made with my fall, frightened humans fleeing the area, I felt a bit better. Now, let's go do something that I'll take my mind off of Akitsu…like…I closed my eyes and spun.

Huh… Hiyamakai Hospital it is then. Let's go visit that girl who, perhaps in the future, may be my Ashikabi. But first…

"How long are you going to stand there?" I turned to the corner of the street.

"Ack, you knew?"

Well, this is a familiar figure, I thought as I stared at a brown haired girl with a giant hammer.

"Why are you here?" I asked, not bothering to even put my hands near my weapons.

"Umm..." She came closer and then bowed. "I think I found my Ashikabi! I stalked him just as you said and I think it's truly him."

I merely stared at her in wonder, having no idea why she'd come to me with a declaration like that.

"He is kind and nice and even though he already has a Sekirei I can feel that he won't deny me." She looked dreamily through me. "I've even had a dream about him."

"…" I scratched my forehead and sighed. "And why are you here, with me when you should be with him?"

"I came to thank you." She said plainly. "If you didn't save me back then a year ago, I'd have never met my True Ashikabi. So thank you."

She bowed waist low before me and then dashed away to the north, mostly likely going for her Ashikabi. I merely watched as her form got smaller and smaller, a slight smile curving my lips. It was nice having someone thank you so sincerely.

* * *

><p>"Ah, welcome back." Toyotama waved at me with a smile as I approached Chiho's room. "You sure you want to go there, right now? She has a visitor you know."<p>

"Hello Toyotama." I returned the smile, not that she could see it. "It matters not."

And then I proceeded to walk right through the door to find myself intruding upon a…private scene where Chiho was currently kissing a Sekirei. How I knew it was a Sekirei? The big white wings that filled up the room were a very big hint. I actually felt a little twitch at the scene, a sort of an urge to do the same to the sickly girl currently lying on the bed beneath that passionate Sekirei of hers. In fact…

"Oh my, it would seem that if you continue doing that, I'll have to fulfill my duties as the Shinigami." I grinned madly at what happened next.

The Sekirei jumped off and threatened me with a…giant plush rabbit. Chiho on the other hand began to take the oxygen that her Sekirei denied her up to now with giant gulps.

"Who are you?" The brown haired Sekirei stared at me intently.

"Ah! Shinigami!" Chiho finally saw me and cried out happily. "You came back!"

"I did promise, did I not?" I walked over to stand over her, completely ignoring the Sekirei who stood beside, and partially through me.

"It's not time yet, is it?" Chiho asked me a strange intonation.

I merely offered her my hand and she squealed with joy when her hand merely passed through mine, as intended. It's funny though, because after seeing Takami almost die, her soul almost leaving her body, this little trick I am playing on Chiho might not be a trick at all… If she was to be truly dying, I think she really would be able to touch my Soul Form as she would be practically a pure spirit at that moment.

"Looks like it isn't, mmm?" I mused.

"Chiho…what is going on?" Her Sekirei stared at me grimly, her eyes roaming over my haori and a sudden understanding coming in her eyes.

"You!"

"Me?"

"Uzume?" Chiho stared at her friend in confusion. "This is Shinigami I told you about before. What's wrong?"

"Shinigami huh?" The now named Uzume smirked suddenly and sat down on her Ashikabi's bed. "I guess that is one of her titles, true."

"I did say I am known by many names." I pulled down my mask and grinned widely.

"Huh, so you truly are, Rei." Uzume muttered to herself. "Why are you here?"

"I promised to Chiho that I'll come back." I tilted my head slightly. "And so I did."

"Are you…" Uzume glanced between me and Chiho. "Is she your..?"

"Perhaps." I nodded slowly, my grin only widening. "It all depends on so many factors."

"I see." Uzume smiled and turned over to her Ashikabi. "Now, where were we…?"

"…You're really going to do this in front the Reaper?" I deadpanned at the nerve of this Sekirei.

"You're welcome to watch." Uzume giggled at Chiho's horrified face. "It's not like you can touch her to do more than act like a simple voyeur."

While I coughed, having choked on air in indignation, Uzume proceeded to smother Chiho with kisses once again, her Ashikabi squeaking softly beneath her Sekirei's assault.

"Maybe we'll even go further today." Uzume broke her kiss only to say something that would send both me and Chiho into red. I must lay down my condolences for the poor girl. With a Sekirei like that, there's a good chance Chiho will literally get screwed to death. On the other hand, I'd think that's a much better way to pass on then to slowly waste away as Chiho has been doing lately.

A disappointed sigh broke me out of my musing and I saw Chiho passed out on the bed, her face as red as a tomato and a slight bit of drool coming out of her mouth while her Sekirei straddled her hips.

"Damn, she never lasts long enough for the main course." Uzume bent her head in fake sadness, her grin giving her away. "So, did you like the show? Lady Voyeur?"

"Tch, just because I am being cautious doesn't mean I am a voyeur." I walked over to stand by the window facing the park. "So she is already a part of this game, huh."

"…Yes." Uzume walked over to stand beside me, the much shorter girl looking down upon the park with a sad face. "I…I hate myself."

"You only did what your body told you to." I replied calmly. "Not many Sekirei have the will or abilities like me that allow them to resist the urge. If it makes you feel any better, she practically brought me to my knees the one time I touched her briefly."

"Eh? I thought you couldn't touch anything in the real world while you are in this ghost form." Uzume stared at me in shock. "Don't tell me this crap you told her about how you can touch her if she's dying is real!"

"But it is." I turned to the deathly pale Sekirei. "I can only touch the Spirits while in this form and Chiho is more than two feet in the Spirit World. I can actually see her soul, even now, the flames burning so brightly that they erupt from her frail body."

"T-then she's-"

"Although it is true she's dying," I finally decided to tell Uzume the truth, having had my fill of trolling her. "I actually briefly visited the Living Realm to touch her as I can't touch her on this side quite yet."

"By the gods!" Uzume actually fell to her knees and clutched her chest as she heaved in deep breaths of air. "Don't do that to me, I actually thought Chiho was about to die!"

"Not quite yet." I glanced back at the sleeping girl. "Why don't you transfer her to an MBI hospital? I very much doubt that her sickness is one that they cannot cure."

"Its…its not as simple as that." Uzume sighed as she leaned back and sat on the floor. "I am number 10, Uzume and I am sort of a fugitive from MBI because I helped Matsu steal a Jinki."

"Ah, so you participated in that event, mmm?" I nodded in thought. "True, something like that would definitely cause Minaka to dislike you."

"Not going to arrest me?" Uzume pointed at my Disciplinary Squad Haori with her eyes.

"Why, I think I have much better things to do right now." I mused to myself. "Like watching the clouds for instance. Did you know that that one over there looks like a clock?"

"…There's no clouds outside right now." Uzume looked at me as I laughed quietly to myself.

"No, there isn't." And suddenly, both of us were laughing.

* * *

><p>"Oh hi." I stopped in front of Yukari and another girl I didn't know. What are the chances of us meeting in the middle of the street randomly? 100% apparently as it just happened.<p>

"Hi Rei!" Yukari waved at me and then suddenly squinted at the Sekirei symbols emblazoned on the shoulders of my haori. "I swear, you guys are some sort of a cult or something, I keep seeing this symbol everywhere."

"Perhaps." I tilted my head a bit. "Who is this with you?"

"Oh? This is Emi Kita, I am staying at her for a while until the university dorms become open." Yukari gestured at the slightly taller girl who stared at me with stars in her eyes.

"I see." I nodded slightly to her and the girl squealed slightly, her eyes becoming misty as she looked on. "Is she alright?"

"Yea, she just has an issue where she becomes this when she sees a strong woman." Yukari shrugged nonchalantly. "Say, we were about to part anyway because I want to visit Minato who moved, want to come with me?"

"Hmm." I mused, stroking my chin. This would be a good time to check on Kusano. "I think I'll come with you. It was nice meeting you, Emi."

The poor girl nearly passed out, so red was her face when she shook my gloved hand, her own nearly unnoticeable in my bigger one. Yukari merely giggled at her friend's predicament before we headed off to Izumo Inn. It's been a while since I've been there, which makes a lot of sense considering just how much Miya hates anything MBI related. We talked as we walked, Yukari sharing her experiences of the city so far and I somewhat listened while at the same time musing about Uzume and her…our Ashikabi. I knew, at this point without a doubt, that if anyone would be my Ashikabi it would be Chiho; her compatibility to me was literally through the roof. I couldn't even stand near her in the same Realm without my body shutting down on me.

It's a bit amusing really; the one Ashikabi who happens to be compatible to a Realm Traveling Sekirei is the one who is currently balancing on the razor edge between the 2 Realms herself. It makes a huge deal of sense when one thinks about it though, Uzume told me. Who else would possibly match me? The trouble was that Chiho was far too naïve and too pure to be my Ashikabi. She just wouldn't be able to become the Disciplinary Squad Ashikabi and I told as much to Uzume. Uzume herself was quite impressed by the teamwork and closeness of Disciplinary members where we decided to all wing ourselves to the most compatible Ashikabi.

On the other hand, Uzume pointed out, if it's anyone who could accept us for who we are and what we must do, it would be Chiho. Her pureness and big heart could overrule her mind and make her see us victims of circumstance rather than see that we chose this, ourselves. I argued against this though as I hated deceiving people. Especially my future Ashikabi. However, I did agree to at the very least talk to my team about Chiho and it's quite possible that she'll get a mass visit in the immediate future. Uzume asked me to give her a call beforehand though, she wanted to come as well.

"Is this the place?" Yukari's question came through to me and I looked up to see the Izumo Inn, practically the same way I remembered it, stand before us. "Let's go take a look!"

We knocked on the door and a couple moments later it was opened to reveal a young looking man in kimono and a gentle smile.

"Why, what a pleasant surprise, Rei." Takehito smiled and held out his hand. "I have not expected you."

"Oh come on." Yukari groaned as we shook hands. "Don't tell me this place is run by the people of the same cult I keep seeing everywhere!"

"Cult?" Takehito looked at Yukari in confusion.

"She refers to the whole S-Plan business." I smiled, unseen once again from beneath the mask. "It's rather funny how she calls us cultists."

"I see." He smiled. "Ah, where are my manners, please, come inside."

We walked in, Yukari removing her shoes while I merely shrugged apologetically to Takehito as I couldn't take off my greaves without taking off the rest of the armour suit. Yukari looked at me weirdly as we walked on, my metal boots thumping against the wood.

"Oh it would seem we have…guests." Miya looked up from her place near the head of the table and suddenly sprang up and disappeared. The rest of the crowd at the table looked at us and then all hell broke loose.

"Lady Rei!" Musubi, of course.

"Reaper?!" Oh hi Uzume, didn't know you lived here.

"Sister!?" That's not for me…

"You again…" I am pleased to see you too, Homura.

"You are not welcome here." I know, Miya, I know, now put away that sword…

"…?" Oh hi Kusano, nice to meet you.

"Bloody Sekirei!" What the hell are you doing here, girl with huge hammer?!

It took a while for everyone to settle down and introductions to be given out. It was funny how, even though I knew most of the people here, few knew my actual name. Most knew me by my titles like Bloody Sekirei, Reaper, Shinigami and so on. Yukari's eyes grew wider with each title and soon she was wailing about how her mother mixed with a bad crowd and was going to get killed. That added a bit of chaos until she explained what she meant and how I was her guide as a favour for Takami on her first day here.

I officially learned the name of the little bird with the huge hammer! Number 84, Yashima practically venerated the ground I walked on and instantly told me how she stalked Minato for months and even let him wing Musubi before she decided he was her True Ashikabi. The poor man just sat there, shocked into oblivion that someone would take enough interest in him to stalk him for such a long time. Or maybe he was just shocked that she admitted to peeking on him while he was in the shower, I don't know. Regardless, the happy couple were obviously…happy, with Yashima constantly proclaiming her love to the man who just didn't know what to do with the random girls who just kept dropping in his lap on a daily basis.

I had faith he'd figure it out though, it was truly as Yashima said, there was great kindness and love in his eyes. He was especially touched when I told him about how Yashima very nearly had been forcefully winged before I saved her. However, he was less than impressed when I admitted, with a gigantic grin, that it was my advice that led him to be stalked for months.

"So…Minato is now involved in some sort of a cult and all of these girls are dropping in on him because of that?" Yukari shocked us all into silence before dropping the bomb. "If I sign up, will cute guys drop out of nowhere for me?"

I facepalmed, Minato choked on this air, Uzume rolled on the floor laughing, Yashima took the chance to hug Minato, Homura backed away from Yukari with wary eyes, Kusano stared at Yukari with a great question mark over her head, Takehito coughed and Miya smacked the poor girl with a ladle. The sad thing was, Yukari was right. As her parents are both Ashikabi, she is one too by default. Currently, she is a bit too weak to cause someone like Homura to react but Homura isn't the only male Sekirei. That and chances of her getting a female Sekirei to react are far greater, simply due to there being a lot more females Sekirei.

"Yukari…" I drawled slowly, the girl in question flinching and backing away from me slightly. "I do wonder what your mother will have to say on this…"

"Ack! I'll be good! I promise!" The much smaller girl waved her hands in front of herself as if to ward something away.

"Come, sit, and eat with us." Takehito gestured to the table full of food.

Not having anything against that I sat down beside Uzume and Yukari sat beside her brother. It was…interesting to sit in such a crowded environment. There were several conversations going on at once at any given time while we ate and praised Miya's cooking. If anyone ever told me that I'd sit and eat the food cooked by Number 1 and praise it, I'd have laughed in their face. Mostly because Miya would never normally allow me to eat her food but she was overruled by Takehito here. However, Miya's food was good. It was far better than the food we got from MBI kitchens, that's for sure. I was actually tempted to offer Miya to be the Head Cook for MBI just for laughs but then there was a chance she'd kick me out and I'd miss out on the food. So I merely commented how it was far better than the stuff we ate in MBI and I swear, her expression lost a couple degrees of hostility after my compliment.

Slowly, the talk began to revolve around me, and considering how Uzume has been sitting beside me and talking to me about anything and everything, the first question was how we knew each other.

"I happened to walk around in Soul Form one day and met her Ashikabi." I answered easily. "And then I walked in on Uzume trying to screw her Ashikabi to death. That was a funny sight."

Most of the table had turned red at this, albeit a few – Musubi and Kusano – merely looked confused, and I had to turn intangible to dodge a ladle.

"You'll have to come back sometime." Miya smiled sinisterly, her ladle tapping her hand. "And then you'll get it."

"...G-ghost!?" Yukari shrieked at my hazy, see through form. Oh, crap, I've forgotten we had a human here and used my ability instinctually. "What did my mother get involved in that she can get ghosts to look after me?!"

"Should we just tell her at this point?" Takehito rubbed his forehead. "She has seen far too much to be left in the dark it seems."

"Well, you know I can't." I grinned as I used Gate:Swap on my plate and began eating the food in the Spirit Realm. "Hmm, this tastes just as good on the other side as it does in the Living Realm."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow as everyone at the table stared at me.

"Y-you can turn things into ghosts!?" Minato turned deathly pale.

"People too." I shrugged. "Want to see the other side? It's a bit boring though, just a bunch of dead people here."

I love trolling people, I thought as I watched Minato faint. It's so much fun.

"From what I remember, whatever you bring to Spirit Realm you cannot take back to Living Realm." Takehito mused out loud, his hand on his chin. "So I am afraid you owe us a new plate now."

"Not a problem, I'll mail it to you tomorrow." I casually replied, ignoring Yukari who also fainted. "Or you can just wait till the Spirit Realm pushes it back out."

"It took almost a year for that Jinki to reappear back in the Living Realm." Takehito deadpanned.

"I am confused." Musubi gave up trying to wake Minato and sat there lost. "Why is Lady Rei suddenly see through?"

"Well…" I was about to give an explanation but then looked at the small hand that appeared through my chest. Twisting back, I saw Kusano stand there, staring at me with wide eyes, her hand trying to touch me. "Hi, Kusano. Having fun?"

"Ghost?" The little girl withdrew her hand and stared at me with those big eyes of hers, a hint of fear beginning to grow in them.

"Spirit." I corrected her gently as I turned around to face her. "Want to come and see?"

"Rei!" Takehito called out, scrambling to his feet even as I touched Kusano, Gate:Swap active. "What have you done!?"

"Oh relax." I waved my ghostly limb at him keeping my eyes on Kusano who looked around wildly at the sudden changes in the world around us. "I put in absolute minimum into that one; she'll be here with me for an hour at most."

"Want to come explore with me, Kusano?" The little girl nodded and reached for my hand, surprise clear on her face when she could touch me easily. "Yep, we are both Spirits right now so of course you can touch me."

"K-ku!" Minato looked at us with panic, picking the time to show up now. I grinned evilly at him.

"Hey now, Kusano." I drew the girl's attention to myself. "Let's play hide and seek with that Ashikabi of yours, hmm?"

And just like that, we dashed through a wall into another room, leaving Minato's shouts behind us. Kusano looked uncertain about running away from her 'brother Minato' but I gently smiled and told her that Minato would be able to find her anyway. All Ashikabi can sense their Sekirei somewhat and if Minato really did love this adorable little birdy then he'd find her in an instant.

"Ku!" I flashed Minato a smirk before I grabbed Kusano and jumped to second floor, ending up in a computer filled room.

"Oh hi Matsu!" I waved at the shocked Sekirei before Kusano led me through a wall giggling. "Bye Matsu!"

"…"

"Hi Homura."

"…"

"Bye Homura!" We both laughed at the fire Sekirei's dumbfounded expression as he stood there, half-dressed with a phone in one hand and a tie in the other.

"Ku!" Minato burst into the room we were in and tried to dash for Kusano. He didn't expect her to giggle though and guide both of us through the floor into the bathrooms.

For the next hour we got chased all over the house by Minato, Yukari – who woke up a short while later – and occasionally Takehito who laughed just as hard as we did. I must say, this is the first time I've actually played using my ability and it was rather fun. Kusano had a great time running around, filling the entire house with laughter like an especially amused poltergeist.

But, like all things, our time in the Spirit Realm ended and we phased into Living World in the living room, only to be instantly caught by Minato, Yukari and Takehito. Thankfully, half way through the game, Minato finally got it through his panic attack that Kusano is having fun and is not hurt in any way.

"I-I think that was the hardest game of Tag I've ever played." Minato gasped as he hugged Kusano to himself who was still giggling.

"Well," Yukari coughed as she lay flat on the floor. "At least we can now say that we've successfully caught a ghost."

"Spirit!" Kusano corrected her with a laugh before yawning. "Ku sleepy."

"Yea…" Yukari struggled to get up, using my armoured form as a pole. "I think it's about time for me to go too."

"I think I've stayed here long enough." I sagely nodded, staring warily at Miya who stood behind Takehito, a ladle in her hand and a very angry looking apparition hovering over her shoulder. "I'll take you home."


	23. Gate:107

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>All in all, I think this was a good trip to the Izumo Inn. I came; I had a great time, good food and passable company. Well, it would've been great company if Miya didn't keep glaring at me as if I killed her favourite dog and then decided to set her house on fire…with the dog's corpse too for good measure. I wonder what her problem is… Let's see, I am pretty much the Lieutenant of Third Generation Disciplinary Squad and an Honorary Member of Second Generation Disciplinary Squad. I happen to be on MBI payroll with Minaka Hiroto as my boss and I get to travel the world, meet new people and then murder them. I also happened to kidnap her husband, Takehito Asama, but I think that time hardly counts, it's not like he resisted at all. Aside from that, I happen to be an annoying Sekirei with a power to go intangible and an inclination to troll everyone one in sight. I still don't get why she hates me…<p>

"So…when are you actually going to tell me what's going on?" Yukari asked me as we walked to her friend's house.

"Mmm." I stopped and slowly lowered my mask, staring at the girl who held her breath in anticipation and then smiled. "Never!"

"…"

I must admit this is the first time I've ever actually seen some one face fault. As in, they randomly trip on air and fall down. While standing on one spot. How is this even possible?! But it just happened, right before me, and something tells me I might be the one responsible for it...Nah, cant be, its all a coincidence.

"I did tell you, if you remember." I smiled innocently. "I can't tell you. I happen to be one of the people enforcing the whole thing."

"Just my luck…" Yukari grumbled as she got up and dusted herself off. "Now I'll have to terrorize my brother until he tells me everything."

"Mmm, I'll just pretend I didn't hear anything." I turned my gaze upwards and whistled. "Why, would you look at those clouds, I think that one looks like a cat."

"…There are no clouds out right now." Yukari deadpanned at me as I laughed. "I don't get it."

"Inside joke-" I lowered my eyes just in time for a figure to dash out of the nearby alley and collide with Yukari, dropping both of them on the ground in a tangle of limbs. "…Hi there."

"Ouch…" One of the figures disentangled itself and rolled aside to reveal a very feminine boy clutching his gray head. "My…head…"

That being said, I think this might be a girl, I can't tell. The clothes are more or less suitable for males while the looks and voice make it vary ambiguous.

"Oww." Yukari finally stopped counting stars and sat up. "Are you al-right…"

As she saw who sat before her, she froze and suddenly, stars appeared in her eyes. I am not even joking, I swear I saw a twinkle and then a chill passed through my spine. As I tried to shake it off, Yukari and the feminine guy – I hope it's a guy so I shall refer to him as such – talked a bit and then I felt incoming ill will.

After fighting for 3 years straight, I became able to sense ill intent or Killing Intent as some refer to it. I don't think that's a good name for it though, because I doubt that Kara really wants to kill me…well, maybe not seriously kill me, but I got that sense mostly from our spars. She even got me train it at one point in it's early development by making me put on a blindfold and earplugs in our spars. Damn those were some very painful times before I finally figured out how to use that sense reliably.

Anyway, I turned upwards to see a couple Sekirei twins dash up to the edge of the roof and start raging at the escapee for running away. I was surprised to find out that the 2 strippers serving that bum of an Ashikabi were not the only twins around. One of the twins was a young looking girl wearing a black and yellow dress that flared out at the bottom letting us all see her underwear perfectly. Her twin sister wore a more modest black dress but considering the angle, it didn't help her actual modesty much. Excellent, we got a couple of flashers chasing after a young man. That sounds like a premise for some harem anime Haihane would watch.

While I was musing about the situation, the two couples managed to trade insults and Yukari did a cool heroic pose and declared that she'd protect this bishonen. What the hell does that even mean? What's a bishonen? Is that the guy's name? Oh, looks like it's time for me to intervene.

"I'd suggest you reconsider your next action." I stepped forward to stand in front of Yukari and this 'bishonen'. "Attacking humans isn't something I can overlook."

"Eh? Who are you?" They stared at me in confusion. Odd, they must not be able to see my haori from their position clearly. That or they are incredibly dumb and have managed to forget what Disciplinary Squad is. "Are you this girl's Sekirei?"

"Oh my, it would seem like I have some education to dispense." I sighed in fake distress. "Well, run along now Yukari, I'll deal with these dimwits."

"What did you call us?!" The twin in black dress stared at me incredulously.

"They are getting away!" Her sister reached behind her and pulled out a whip which she used to strike at the escaping Yukari and her companion. She must've channeled her power through it or something because I don't think it was about 20 meters in length to begin with, they were standing on top of the condo building after all.

"I thought I made it clear." I dashed over and intercepted the whip with my right hand, the thing coiling against my gauntleted hand. "Your path ends here."

"Ha! Stupid fool, I-eh?" She tried to pull on the whip and failed, my strength overpowering her attempt with ease. "Wh-"

"Tch." I pulled hard, throwing her off the roof and onto the street. "Your lack of common sense disappoints me."

"Mitsuha!" Her sister shouted and jumped down to check on her sister who began getting up with moans of pain.

"I-I am alright, Mitsuki." She teetered and had to grab her sister for support. "Almost."

"Why you!" Mitsuki waved her arms and pointed her hands at me, the sun reflecting off of dozens of strings that reached for me. Or would've if I had stayed on one spot. "Stand still damn it!"  
>"I am interested," I lazily dodged the thin wires she kept trying to grab me with. "Just what are you going to do if I actually start fighting back?"<p>

"We'll take you out, that's what!" Mitsuha finally picked up her whip again and lashed out at me, missing just as terribly as her sister.

"Hmm." I mused, dodging a combination they tried to achieve. "I think those two are too far for you to reach now. I should catch up."

"We'll catch them anyway!" Mitsuha yelled. "Our master won't be denied!"

"Yea!" Her sister lashed out again. "We'll defin-woah!"

I dashed forward, my swords in my hands, and sliced through both Mitsuha's whip and Mitsuki's strings with Gate:Open. I practically reached them before they got over the shock of losing their weapons so fast.

"How-" Was all Mitsuki was able to say before the pommel of my sword buried itself deep in her gut. "Garh!"

"Mit-!" Her sister followed just as quickly, the trauma causing her to cough up blood and pass out on the concrete. Mitsuki on the other hand proved to be a bit tougher and was still conscious, even if she didn't have the strength to do anything but lie in a pool of her own bloody vomit and moan pitifully.

"Disappointing." Was all I had to say at the scene before turning around and walking towards Yukari's house. The duo will be fine; we Sekirei are much hardier than humans. That being said, I think my blows would've turned a human's insides into mush rather than merely damage them like what happened to my opponents. Although I am not sure if I even want to categorize those two stupid morons as my opponents. Maybe as bratty children who had to be taught a lesson but were they actually a danger to me?

I laughed at the thought. Those two were definitely not Sekirei who trained more than occasionally or once a month. They had absolutely nothing that could pose even theoretical danger to me, not at the level of their weapon and power mastery. Or rather, lack of said mastery. They did have a chance, I mean, that Mitsuki girl with her wire could've ensnared me and then, theoretically, they could've brought me down. Maybe, sometime in the far future, like say a couple decades from now when their skills will finally be worth something with the amount of training they currently put into them.

"Hmm?" I glanced up to see a couple of shadows leap away. Huh, looks like someone was watching the fight but wasn't intending on joining in at all, otherwise my ill intent sense would've picked them up. Oh well, I don't particularly care who it was anyway, I doubt they'd have done anything other than slow me down even if they did join.

The one thing I did appreciate from the fight, is knowing that even if I still can't suppress my killer instinct, courtesy of Dietrich, then at least I can stop myself before causing too much damage. Honestly, I can't believe I haven't figured this out till now. If I want someone not to instantly die when I hit them, perhaps hitting them with the opposite of the sharp end of my sword is a good idea. People tend to die when there is a sword in their gut. It's much harder for them to do the same when all they got hit with is a pommel. At least, instantly. This should prove to be extremely handy in the upcoming later Stages.

I had no intention on killing any of my kind. At the same time, I'll have to fight them and at the very least knock them out somehow. So far, I am under the impression that there will be very few Sekirei who will pose enough threat for me to actually use the sharp end of my blades on. I think I'll be fighting with my pommels for the most part, until my opponents become good enough that I won't have to worry about them dying instantly on me. Then I thought about the rest of the Disciplinary Squad and couldn't suppress a sigh. Something tells me that we all will suffer through the same problem. After training practically 24/7 and constant evolving of our powers for years, we are far beyond any average Sekirei, especially ones who didn't bother to train their powers.

I've already given Beni my advice, thankfully, her abilities – which can and have been classified as heavy artillery – have enough secondary damage that anything in the radius tends to be thoughtfully demolished. But, considering that we Sekirei can take a lot more punishment than any human, the damage done shouldn't be any more than enough to knock her opponent out.

Haihane, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult to deal with. Her claws, especially when charged with her power, have a tendency of slicing through even my armour and that's pretty close to the absolute cutting edge I have. Although I simply ignore any and all armour, Haihane has enough brute force and sharp enough claws to practically do the same. Sparring with her has become a rather nervous business as of late, after she pretty much totaled my armour in the last 2 on 1 scenario we had. How she would go about without killing her Sekirei opponent, I don't know.

I mentally reviewed the levels of Deactivation. Level 1 was when the Sekirei is deactivated via another Sekirei touching the crest and reciting a small prayer – a deactivation code unique to the attacking Sekirei. We all receive a unique deactivation code upon our winging; it's a feature that is unlocked in the process of us receiving our Norito – an ultimate Sekirei ability accessible only to those with an Ashikabi. Level 2 is the first of deactivation by force, but in this case it's also fairly merciful. A level 2 is inflicting minor damage – like suppressing the Sekirei in question – and then using the deactivation code. Level 3 is when it starts to go into actual body damage. Level 3 is deactivation by force, but also comparatively minor – like having the Sekirei in question bleed out or forcing deactivation via blunt trauma or comparatively minor damage like a knife to the heart. Level 4 is severe body damage; the Sekirei in question can be missing limbs, destruction of multiple organs, anything except for the Tama. Level 5 is complete Sekirei death and is only possible if the Tama is destroyed.

Although, I think she has enough finesse and precision to merely bleed her opponent out, resulting in a fairly peaceful Level 3 Deactivation, Haihane might be forced to result to a Level 4, just due to the way her weapons work. Really, no matter how precise you are – unless you are Kara – using weapons intended for shredding tanks to merely nick your opponent to bleed out takes an insane amount of luck too.

Speaking of Kara, we – pretty much everyone involved in this little conspiracy – managed to get her to agree to do Level 3 Deactivations only. She refused to go lower as she considered it a slight against herself to do so. Still, I am grateful for her even going so far.

"…" I stared at the light show that erupted from the house I was on my way to and then sighed, staring at the cloudless evening sky. "Takami is going to murder me."

* * *

><p>"See! Pretty boys did come out of nowhere!" Yukari jumped around the room, ecstatic. Her Sekirei sat on the floor, his wide blue eyes following her progress while I merely leaned again the doorway. He was a rather frightened little fellow, who reached only half way up to my chest.<p>

"Yukari…" I sighed and then a ring tone came up, announcing that I was being called. "Yes?"

"Rei…" Takami's voice was dangerously calm before she blew up, making me twitch. "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

"Oww… you don't have to yell that hard, Takami." I rubbed my head in embracement. "I am sorry, but your daughter managed to run off with a Sekirei and wing him while I covered their escape from other Sekirei who were chasing."

"Gods fucking damn it!"

"I-is that m-mother on the line?" Yukari suddenly ended up behind her Sekirei, staring at me with fearful eyes. "I-is she mad?"

"Hey Takami, your daughter is asking if you're mad," I smirked at the deathly pale girl. "Or berserking in rage."

"Rei…" Takami's voice grew dangerous once more. "Once you come back, you're getting that armour of yours installed with external speakers and a holographic projector. NO BUTS!"

"Ehehe…" I laughed nervously. "A-alright I guess."

"Good." Takami hanged up, letting me breathe out a sigh of relief.

"S-so?" Yukari stuttered from behind the confused boy only to jump up in fright when her cell phone began to ring. "H-hi mom."

"WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING!?" Her Sekirei was literally blasted away by Takami's voice. "I TOLD YOU TO LISTEN TO REI DAMN IT!"

While Takami chastised her daughter, I and Shiina – Yukari's Sekirei – talked. When I mused how interesting it was to see him right after playing around with his anti-thesis, he became pale and stuttered if she was still alive after I was done with her. At this point I waved aside his concerns and told him that I kill humans for the sake of Sekirei. I don't kill Sekirei as that would mean that my last 3 years' worth of working to protect our kind was worthless. I told him I merely visited Kusano to ensure the little kid was fine as it was my mission prior to return her to MBI and I only relented when I found out that she met her True Ashikabi.

Shiina was happy that she got a True Ashikabi, yet sad at the same time that they had different ones. At which I pointed out that, considering his Ashikabi is the sister of Kusano's Ashikabi, there won't be a problem. The guy literally fell on his knees when his feet refused to hold him after experiencing such intense relief.

In the end I bid him good day and left, Takami still yelling at Yukari. I had to get back to MBI, Kara and Haihane were supposed to come home today. There's a talk I need to have with Kara and – by the gods! – it won't be easy for me.


	24. Gate:Wings

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…Somehow I didn't expect this."<p>

"You should've." Kara mumbled beside me. "Now shut up and go back to sleep."

As I lay there, listening to Kara's soft breathing, I thought back on the previous day – or rather evening. Somehow, in all of my anxiety and in all of the scenarios running in my head, I've never expected what happened to happen. It started off with me waiting for Kara to come back while Haihane and Beni were in the baths. Apparently Kara arrived three hours ago, got bored of waiting for me and then left to go find Musubi to see how she was so far and take a look at her Ashikabi. Of course, Kara being who she is, she couldn't not get in an argument with Miya and ended up coming home wound up.

So there I am, reading some random manga from Haihane's massive collection out of sheer boredom, and suddenly, the next minute I am doing my best to keep up with pissed Kara on the training ground outside the MBI Tower. Kara occasionally wanted to unleash herself without collapsing the MBI building by doing so and so we got a Disciplinary Squad training ground on the outskirts of the MBI Tower. It was extremely handy in practising destructive skills and Beni's abilities in general. Eventually, Kara got too fast for me and ended up demolishing one of the walls surrounding the training ground with my body. Yea, that still hurts by the way, armour or not. Then Akitsu walks in through the hole in the wall and decides to fight Kara for no reason. Actually, screw reasons, what was Akitsu doing on our training ground in the first place?! Regardless, as I lay there, recovering, I got the dubious joy of seeing 2 powerful single numbers go at each other. I never knew Akitsu was this strong, I mean, I knew she was incredibly smart to keep up with Takami but I somehow thought that she wouldn't have the time to practise her abilities while with Takami.

Well, I got proven wrong, incredibly so. And I should've known too, I mean she is the reason why 2nd Invasion failed to actually capture the Kamikura Town despite the marines outnumbering the guards more than 10:1. Still, I've never actually seen her fight till now and by the gods, was it something special. Akitsu was born to be long-range artillery. That being said, she also apparently trained hard to fix her weakness in close combat too. The results were…spectacular. I was simply at loss of words when Akitsu walked in and summoned a frigging icy comet to crash down from the heavens onto Kara who proceeded to slice through the celestial body and escape majority of the damage.

For the next 30 minutes I lay there and watched, with huge eyes and an open mouth, as Akitsu chased Kara around with things like comets, ice geysers, blizzards, animated icy golems and all of that came with practically hundreds of icicles flying everywhere. Of course, Kara gave just as well as she got. Icicles and geysers she dodged, comets and golems she hacked through and the blizzard she simply ignored by coating herself with an aura of sorts of her own power. She kept going after Akitsu who rode a giant dragon around to get away from her. The result was that both of them simply ran out of energy to continue and decided to call it a tie.

At which point Akitsu proceeded to bluntly tell Kara that she slept with me. Then she proceeded to take the blame on herself, making it look like she's the one who seduced me. Considering the arguments and words she used, I began to doubt who seduced who. Maybe it truly was the way Akitsu portrayed it and it was merely me acting due to her provocation… Does it honestly matter!? Fuck no, I still like both of them and I've slept with both of them. Gods, I am such an asshole for doing this to Kara, who I truly came to love and Akitsu who has been like family for me.

Regardless, when I tried to intervene, I was told to 'shut up and stay there while your superiors are talking'. Truthfully, they were right, Kara was my captain and Akitsu was even superior to that by MBI rankings. Somehow, the 2 of them managed to talk it out and came to an agreement. If Kara ever sees Akitsu in her bed, she's going to kill her. Aside from that, whenever Kara isn't around, Akitsu is free to do whatever she pleases. I must admit, this was definitely not what I was expecting all of this come down to.

* * *

><p>"I hate being used like a mobile demolition crew…" Beni grumbled at the table as we sat down to eat breakfast. "Stupid idiots trying to escape…"<p>

"At least you got to break something." Haihane sighed as she drank a glass of milk. "When they ordered us not to attack you at least could hit the ground and scare them away. How the hell am I supposed to scare away those damn brats if any ability I use will freaking kill the gods be damned weaklings!?"

While Kara, Akitsu and I were having 'fun' on the training ground – which is now in need of complete repair due to what Akitsu did to it – Beni and Haihane had to go out and patrol the city perimeter when MBI moved in to occupy Shinto Teito. Yea, another thing the three of us missed: apparently we are now officially in Second Stage. Pardon me for not cheering. The White Clown, in a rare show of tact – or maybe it was fear for his life – decided not to interrupt our little training session and instead sent Beni and Haihane to patrol the city while MBI squads, reinforced with Specialists, locked down the city. Of course, there was quite a bit of panic in the evening yesterday when some Ashikabi tried to use their Sekirei to get out of the city. However, the combination of massed mobile armour, thousands of grunts, MBI laser satellites and Specialists reinforcing the whole thing were more than enough to send the attackers back into the city.

Beni and Haihane maybe crying to us about their misfortunes, but I and Kara already skimmed through the mission reports and knew more or less what happened. Really, they should stop raising such a stink over a couple incidents they were called for. Sure, Beni went ahead and simply demolished an entire bridge with a Pulverize when the MBI positions on said structure got breached but that was pretty much the end of the incident. After the destruction of the bridge everyone just got up and left, there was nothing left to fight over.

Haihane also had to scare off a pair who tried to leave by attacking a small little known bridge that was guarded only by a couple dozen grunts and a couple of light mobile armour. Nothing that could stop a determined Sekirei empowered by a Norito – an ability where the Sekirei uses her Ashikabi as a resonance for her abilities, empowering them briefly. So Haihane had to drop in, toss a few insults, cut their clothes off and that was pretty much it. The photo of the pair running off while holding onto their underwear prompted much laughter from me and Kara when we were reading the report. The bridge in question is now patrolled by a mere dozen grunts and a Specialist Captain Andromeda. I do not envy any Sekirei who tries to attack that bridge now, Andromeda got rather pissed for being assigned guard duty in the middle of nowhere.

Still, now that we are here together and the situation stabilized briefly, perhaps it is time…

"I've got something to say to you all." I attracted their attention. "I've found my True Ashikabi. Of course, I haven't gotten winged yet."

"Oh?" Kara merely arched an eyebrow.

"What!?" Beni stood up, her fists clenched, a strange fire in her eyes.

"…" Haihane deemed her toast more important than giving some sort of response.

"Would you like to come with me to meet her?"

"Are you really expecting a negative?" Kara finished her drink and got up. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>"Somehow, I am not surprised." Haihane muttered as we stood before Hiyamakai Hospital.<p>

"Neither am I." Kara nodded with her typical smile on. "The only person more compatible to Rei would be an undead and I don't think those exist. I hope this person you found isn't on their deathbed, are they?"

"Close, but the MBI can fix it." I replied, opening the gates. "I've checked with Akitsu."

"Where to now?" Beni looked around at the serene scene, looking for my Ashikabi.

"This way." I led them over to the tree where I met Chiho for the first time, Uzume waiting for me there with the girl in question sitting beside her on the wheelchair. I was of course in my Soul Form as I figured that if I were to show up in Living World then I wouldn't be able to so much as stand when we approach her.

"Shinigami!" Chiho waved at me with a big smile causing my companions to stare at me incredulously. "It's nice to see you again!"

"Hello Reaper!" Uzume waved and got up. "I see you brought everyone huh…"

"My, my, and who are you?" Kara put on her eerie smile and crouched before Chiho while Beni and Haihane slowly approached her from the sides.

"I am Chiho Hidaka." The girl smiled back, unconcerned about the wrongness of Kara's smile and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Hmm. Indeed." Kara shook her hand and then withdrew. "I am Karasuba."

"Hi, I am Benitsubasa." Beni was next while Haihane took off her gauntlets. "I am Rei's apprentice, nice to meet you."

"Hi!" Chiho shook her hand and then stared at Beni in shock. "Eh? I can touch you? Aren't you a Shinigami too?"

"Ah…my title is the Shinigami." I bowed my head in slight shame from the half-truth I currently have to deal with. "I am not the true Shinigami."

"So…when you told me that if you can't touch me then I am alright, you lied?" Chiho stared at me with her wide brown eyes."

"No, I told you the truth." I replied. "While I am in this form, I can only touch spirits, meaning that if I can touch you then you are dying."

"Oh…I see." She breathed out in relief. "So, who are you?"

"I am Haihane, Karasuba's apprentice." Haihane shook the girl's hand gently, her ragged form intriguing the smaller girl greatly.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled and then her face put on an expression of worry. "Are you alright? You have so many bandages."

"I am fine, I heal fast." Haihane shrugged and stepped away.

"Rei, a word." Kara beckoned us to follow but began talking when we were only ten meters away. "Is she acceptable for us? I believe her kind is far too innocent to ever become Ashikabi for us."

"I've talked to her and to her Sekirei, number 10, Uzume." I scratched my forehead. "I believe that if we ease her in, she will be fine. She'll accept us."

"I've felt something when I talked to her." Haihane glanced back at the girl talking to Uzume. "It was stronger than when Minaka introduced us to Natsuo but not by much."

"I felt it, definitely." Beni put her hand over her heart. "Just by touching her, my body heated up and my heart is still beating fast. But…she's a girl, will she ever love us?"

"Umm…I don't think we'll have a problem with that…" I glanced back to see Uzume kissing her Ashikabi. "I've walked in on them kissing passionately before."

"I also felt a slight reaction, but it was far too weak." Kara's ever present smile dipped a bit. "However, all Ashikabi become stronger the more Sekirei are under their command. Who knows, perhaps with you three and this Uzume under her, she'll give me a decent reaction."

"Wait, so you actually want us all to get winged by this half-dead girl?" Haihane exclaimed.

"Well, we all decided that we'll be winged by 1 person, no?" Beni huffed. "Might as well start looking for decent people now and if Rei found her True Ashikabi shouldn't we follow her?"

"I…I don't have to be winged by Chiho you know." I hesitated, something inside of me hurting at the mere thought that it might not be Chiho. But I had to do this, for the Squad that became my family. "I can take whoever you react to."

"Mmm, I don't particularly believe in all of this True Ashikabi stuff." Kara mused out loud. "I will wing myself on the Ashikabi who I believe is worthy. And so far, I haven't decided yet about this girl."

"We have some time until we are the only unwinged ones left." Haihane scratched her head. "Why not look around until then? We'll make sure to pay special attention to this Chiho girl to see if she truly is worthy of us."

"How many are left anyway?" Beni turned to me and Kara.

"Beside us there's 5 left." I recited the information Akitsu gave me yesterday after the fight. "Numbers 3, 6, 9, 94 and 106."

"Damn it, Minaka is going to go after us soon." Beni bit her thumb nail. "We need to look around, fast."

"To be honest, there isn't much of a choice." Kara drawled, staring at Chiho. "Almost all of the other Ashikabi are either trash, too weak or simply boring. I've already looked at their files and I am not impressed one bit. This girl, is the only one who shows some promise, even if its mostly only due to Rei reacting to her."

"Oh? How so?" I raised an eyebrow, I didn't know Kara did that much research into the matter.

"Her Sekirei, Uzume, is going around, attacking other Sekirei seemingly at random from behind and leaves the corpses alone." Kara explained. "I suggest a small test. If she is capable of accepting that her Sekirei is a cold blooded murderer, then she can definitely accept us."

"Makes sense to me." Haihane easily went along with her master.

"Oh, that would work." Beni nodded too. "If she can accept that this Uzume person is a serial killer, then she can definitely accept us who do what we do because we must."

I merely nodded and walked off to get Uzume who was still playing around with her Ashikabi.

"Y-you can't be serious!" She turned deathly pale at our request. "I-I've done everything I have for her! In order to pay off the medicine I had to do this but Chiho…I…"

"Mmm? You do not trust your Ashikabi?" Kara's grin widened slightly. "My my, and here we thought that you 2 were so close together…"

"Uzume." I grabbed the girl by the shoulders forcing her to look at me. "Whatever transgressions you did against MBI will be pardoned if Chiho becomes our Ashikabi. This means that MBI will cure her. I have asked around and they are 100 percent certain that they can cure that illness."

"Indeed, if you can't do it for yourself, do it for your Ashikabi." Beni crossed her arms and stared at Uzume challengingly.

"I…I'll do it." Uzume gulped and nodded resolutely. It would seem like our guess was correct, Uzume is willingness to do anything for her Ashikabi knows no bounds.

"We'll help, play along." Kara grinned evilly, something on her mind. The rest of us merely shrugged and decided to play along with Kara.

"Girl." Kara started in a lazy pose, her hand on her nodachi. "It is time for us to introduce ourselves truthfully. I am Number 4, Karasuba, Captain of Disciplinary Squad and these are my underlings."

"Eh? Sekirei?" Chiho looked at us confused. "Shinigami too?"

"That is irrelevant at this point." Kara waved her question aside. "What does matter, is that it falls to us to oversee the rules of the Sekirei plan. One of these rules happens to be that after termination of a Sekirei, their opponent must wait on the spot for MBI to pick up the corpse."

"What are you-"

"Your Sekirei, number 10 Uzume, is being charged with breaking that rule multiple times." Kara's smile became downright frightening. "Now, generally we'd merely do something silly like fine you or something like that. But I can see that you are here, living out the rest of your days in peace."

"So I offer to take this murderer off your hands." And with those words, suddenly Uzume had Kara's blade under her chin. We all froze, I, Beni and Haihane because if we do anything, we might break the atmosphere and thus break the test Kara is putting Chiho under. Uzume froze because moving with a razor sharp sword at your neck is generally a very bad idea. Chiho on the other hand…

"NO!" She stood up and dashed to stand before her Sekirei, arms wide, desperation forcing her body to obey while Kara lowered her blade in surprise. "She's no murderer! I can feel her pain! Her suffering when she's out there, thinking that I don't know what she does! Don't take her away from me!"

"Chiho…" Uzume uttered, completely shocked. "You…you knew?"

"Uzume," Chiho turned at smiled at her Sekirei. "You told me yourself that we are bonded for eternity. I can feel you no matter where you are, no matter what you do. I feel you. But I couldn't do anything but smile for you, not with this body of mine."

"Ah!" Her legs finally gave out and she tumbled down, Uzume reaching out for her but…

"I like that answer, girl." Kara held Chiho in one hand, sheathing her sword with the other, a pleased grin on her face. "I think you'll do just fine."

"Eh?" Was all surprised Chiho could say before Kara bent down and kissed her.

"I am your sword," Kara stated in an odd voice as she broke away, looking at Chiho in the eyes. "Wield me in this endless battle."

"Somehow, I thought I was going to be first." I stared enchanted at the wings of pure black light which erupted from Kara's back. "And I distinctly remember you saying that you were going to be last."

"When she stood up for her Sekirei and defended her, only pure will forcing her broken body to stand," Kara replied as she held a completely red Chiho in her arms. "I felt my reaction spike. I like her indomitable will; she'll be a fine Ashikabi for us."

"Well, looks like it's settled, hmm?" Haihane leaned over and turned Chiho's tomato red face towards her. "I am number 104, Haihane. Take care of me, would you?"

"I am your wraith," Haihane spoke gently after ending her kiss. "Together, none shall stand before us, for ever."

13 sky blue wings briefly illuminated the scene before turning to ash and disappearing into the wind. Haihane took her time before pulling away with a big grin, leaving Chiho a stuttering mess.

"I-what?" Chiho looked at smirking Beni and me with my gentle smile. "What's going on?"

"Tch, figures that we will have a clueless girl as our Ashikabi." Beni brought her face point blank close to Chiho. "I am number 105, Benitsubasa and you are my Ashikabi."

Blood red wings lit up the area as Beni kissed Chiho hesitantly despite her bravado.

"I will be your final mercy," Beni said with a sad smile, slowly leaning back from the kiss. "Together we will put our enemies to eternal rest."

I merely watched on, something deep inside of me aching at the unraveling scene. It was strange, I loved Kara and yet…something scratched at my heart to see Chiho wing everyone before me. That being said, I had to do something and fast. If Akitsu and Takami are to be believed, which they are, then an Ashikabi becomes a far stronger beacon to all compatible Sekirei. Which meant that if I thought I had it bad before, now I probably will simply pass out the instant I phase back into the Living World.

"W-what just happened?" Chiho calmed down a little, Uzume fussing over her, still held securely in Kara's arms.

"You just became the Arbitrator of the Sekirei Plan." Kara explained, her grin stretching to close her eyes. "You are now the Ashikabi of the Disciplinary Squad, the Ashikabi in charge of making sure this whole thing doesn't unravel into a massive mess that will destroy the city."

As Chiho's eyes grew bigger by each statement, Kara decided to finish it off with a single blow.

"Pretty much the lives of everyone in this city are in your hands now."

And with that, Chiho fainted, unable to take anymore.

"You just had to do that before I could get my wings." I deadpanned at my lover.

"What can I say, she delightful to mess around with." Kara gave a short laugh.

"Wait, so what's Rei going to do now?" Beni asked with a frown, looking from my pale face to her new Ashikabi.

"I need to get Chiho back." Uzume reached out and took the girl in question from Kara. "This much excitement and the fact that she forced her body right now can't be good for her."

"That might not be a good idea." I stated, causing Uzume to look back in surprise. "Chiho just became a major player in this game. Do you really think Higa won't take the chance to poison her and put us all out of commission?"

"Higa? The so called Ashikabi of the East?" Haihane tilted her head slightly. "What does he have to do with this?"

"This is his hospital, he practically lives here." Uzume answered, loathing in her voice. "But where do we go now then?"

"To MBI of course." Ben stated this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Where else? Minaka can't afford to lose us, so they'll heal Chiho as fast as possible to get us combat ready."

"I-You are right." Uzume nodded with a determined expression. "Let's go."


	25. Gate:9

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>After handing Chiho over to Takami and Akitsu who promised to get her illness cured in days, Kara went off to report to Minaka that we got our Ashikabi while I decided to go walk around in the city. I just couldn't handle the pressure of having to wait for my future Ashikabi to awaken and finally wing me. I just had to get out. Well, that and the fact that when I tried phasing into Living Realm I nearly blackened out from the reaction I was getting and that was outside the room she lay in! If I wanted to get out of Spirit Realm any time soon, I had to do it outside the MBI tower.<p>

Which brings me to my current disposition. I am not quite sure how things started out but after seeing Uzume off as she went to grab her things from Izumo Inn I somehow ended up here…

"T-this Sekirei is mine!" I think this must be the first time I saw Minato come out of his timid, withdrawn shell. I was quite surprised and I wasn't alone in this regard. Practically everyone on the street, Hibiki, Hikari, Seo – their Ashikabi – Tsukiumi the water Sekirei in question and Yashima all stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the young man.

"Huh? You-" Whatever Seo wanted to say will forever be lost as he was blasted by what seemed like full power from his enraged Sekirei.

"You bastard! How dare you go after another Sekirei while we are here!" Hikari clenched her fist, lightning snaking through out her body and making her hair fly upwards. "After telling us that we are the only ones for you!"

"B-but I didn't do anything yet!"

That was definitely not the right thing to say, I thought as I watched Seo get lit up like a Christmas tree. Off to the side, Yashima stood and giggled at Seo's misfortune, her hammer waiting for its time on her shoulder. Meanwhile, Tsukiumi and Minato talked a bit, Minato got a free cold shower and then suddenly, Tsukiumi kissed the guy, sprouting gigantic wings of ocean blue. Well, looks like the show is over, it's probably time for me to-

"Oh! Lady Rei!" I turned back to see Musubi wave at me cheerfully, the rest of the actors in this farce also turning upwards to look at me. Where the hell did she come from? "What are you doing here?"

"Watching." I admitted easily, taking pleasure in the stunned expressions of Minato and Tsukiumi.

"Why you! The coward who keeps running away from me!" Tsukiumi pointed at me angrily. "Come down here and face me in fair combat!"

"Eh?!" Minato stared at his newly gained Sekirei. "Wait that's-"

"Why not?" I shrugged and jumped down, Hibiki, Hikari and Seo scrambling away warily. "You should be a good practise."

"Hah! This Tsukiumi here will show you her power!" The blonde in the short dress proclaimed, water currents coming into existence around her.

"Let's see if you prove to be a worthy distraction." From the thoughts that plague me recently anyway. I drew my swords, Tsukiumi got into position and Yashima dashed over to grab Minato before leaping away. As if that was the signal, Tsukiumi unleashed her torrent at me, water rising like an unforgiving tsunami before me. It might've worked had I tried to dodge or something like that, I on the other hand, merely walked through in my Soul Form only to instantly phase back into the Real World and dash towards the stunned Sekirei. Somewhere along that time, I noticed Seo and his Sekirei run off.

I must say, I was rather…disillusioned. After seeing what Kara, Akitsu, Mutsu and Yume could do I came to believe that the single digits were amazing. Even Homura was powerful enough to make me think twice before engaging him. Tsukiumi proved otherwise. Oh sure, there was water everywhere and even thought I used Gate:Open on myself as often as I could I got drenched a bit, but her attacks did nothing to me. She didn't compress her water balls for them to actually hurt on contact and her streams of water were just that: streams of water. It was a bit like being sprayed by a power hose. Distracting, but hardly harmful. Of course, I had to give her some slack considering my armour but it was no major hinderance to all other single digits I've fought before. In close combat, she was utterly worthless and had I wanted to, I could've killed her already. She could make a watery blade but she had absolutely no skill with it.

"I am disappointed." I finally stated my thoughts, stopping before heavily breathing Tsukiumi. "You are nothing like the other single numbers, you are weak."

"Grr!" The Sekirei clenched her fists. "You just keep running away into that cheating form of yours!"

"Indeed." I sighed. "Well, it's time to finish this. Nice knowing you, Tsukiumi."

With those words I dashed forward, my blades glowing an ethereal wispy blue. Tsukiumi threw another wave at me but this one I just broke right through, not even bothering to phase through it. Her power was just not concentrated enough to actually harm me. A step before I was about to reach her though, I had to spin on my heels and block a gigantic hammer with one hand while another sword deflected a mighty punch from Musubi.

"Oh?' I jumped back, using the momentum they gave me and relaxed, my swords at my sides, pointing slightly towards the ground. "Hmm, looks like this is getting interesting."

"You!" Tsukiumi seemed torn before appreciating how she got saved and chastising her savours for interrupting the duel.

"Shut up." Yashima stared at me, her usually calm features focused and alert. "You are no match for Lady Rei, none of us are. We must work together."

"Yea!" Musubi jumped up and down in excitement. "Together we can take her on!"

"Musubi, Yashima, Tsukiumi." Minato called out from the side, a phone in his hand. "Be careful!"

"Hmph!" Tsukiumi turned away from her Ashikabi with a blush and began forming more water around her. Yashima readied herself, her hammer glowing blue and Musubi merely took a stance, her battle lust palpable.

"Hmm." I stared at the opponents in front of me. Albeit random, this was going to be an interesting fight. It was going to be a bit difficult that they prevented me from knocking Tsukiumi out with their attack but now it's just going to be so much more exhilarating. With Yashima and Musubi attacking me in the front while Tsukiumi brought in the artillery, this is going to be a fun fight. Of course, I wasn't going to actually try to kill or even severely injure any of them and at the same time, they couldn't do anything to me as I'll just Gate:Open away.

Just as I expected, Musubi charged in first, Yashima following after her with a war cry, her hammer glowing brighter with vivid blue by the second. Tsukiumi quickly fired a stream at me in an attempt to distract me long enough for her allies to reach me. Except she didn't know I had the Ill Intent sense which allowed me to dodge her attack with ease while I ducked below Musubi's punch and kicked her away just in time to criss-cross my swords in a block from Yashima's hammer.

"Ow." I deadpanned as Yashima literally put me knee deep into asphalt. Well, more like a gigantic crater formed from her hitting me, but details. Regardless, now I knew that blocking was a very bad idea as my arms literally went numb from that block. And to make it worse, Musubi took that kick on a block and was already charging right back into the fight. At least Tsukiumi was currently out of commission, afraid to hit her own allies by accident as we brawled in the middle of the street.

Yes, this is the fight I was looking for, I grinned madly as I ducked, dodged and parried the countless blows Musubi threw at me and the occasional strike which caused small earthquakes from Yashima. Of course, I threw out just as many attacks as they did and so far, only thanks to me unable to press my advantage that they had nothing more than torn clothing and light scratches. I on the other hand, was completely fine even if I was soaking wet, courtesy from the occasional water ball from Tsukiumi.

Suddenly, my instincts screamed of an incoming attack from above and I slashed above with Gate:Open. Musubi and Yashima backed away slightly, taking a small breather to calm down.

"That's just not fair!" Matsu's voice called out from the phone Minato was still holding. "How the hell did you just cut a laser?!"

"Oh? Is that what it was?" I glanced skywards, unconcerned about possible attacks from the ground. My eyes were hardly the biggest sense I used in a fight anyway, Kara taught me as much. My eyes generally just couldn't keep up with the speeds me and Kara could go up to so I had to rely on other senses.

"Regardless, I think it's about time to wrap this up." I looked back down to see them eye me warily and Minato in shock. "On guard!"

I dashed forward to Yashima who swung her hammer at me with all her strength. Musubi tried to intercept, but I merely ran straight through both her and Yashima's hammer. Yashima, seeing me point blank, jumped away, letting go of her hammer but before she could get away, I spun on the spot, phased back into Living World and kicked the smaller girl hard.

"Yashima!" Minato ran over to the fallen Sekirei as she slumped out of a small crater in the wall of the nearby apartment building.

I spun back, blocking both of Musubi's strikes and then, turning once more, slashed at Tsukiumi's attack with Gate:Open, negating it. Slashing at Musubi without looking with another Gate:Open, I dashed towards Tsukiumi who sent water ball after water ball at me, her eyes wide and her hands shaking from the exhaustion. She managed to slow me down enough that Musubi, who dodged my slash, caught up to me and forced me to fight her again right beside Tsukiumi who took the chance to jump away.

Tch, I didn't want to do this, but I didn't come here to play a game of tag.

"Gate:Swap!" I called out, quickly drawing a circle with one blade and then cutting it with another. The tell-tale blue wave erupted and then quickly came back, taking me, Musubi and Tsukiumi who almost escaped it, into the Spirit World.

"What is this!?" Tsukiumi looked around wildly, the blue dome, the black and white world and the soul orbs floating about confusing her greatly.

"Eh?" Musubi backed away from me. "Where are we?"

"Welcome, to the Spirit Realm." I gestured around with my swords. "Do try not to go beyond the borders; you might be stuck here for ever."

"What is this madness…" Tsukiumi stared at me with wide eyes.

"I would do as she says, Tsukiumi!" Matsu's garbled voice reached us. "Don't go beyond the dome boundaries!"

"Well then, round 3?" I smiled, my swords at the ready once more.

"Musubi is ready!" And without waiting for another moment, I was set upon by Musubi, having to dodge, duck and occasionally tap her fists out of the way with my swords. She wasn't bad, her speed, reaction time and strength were obviously high, but her technique seemed…unrefined. It was as if she just recently began actively learning it.

"Ack!" Musubi collapsed to her knees and clutched her stomach as I rammed a pommel into it, having seen everything I wanted to see.

"Musubi!" Minato called out from the other side, still clutching at Yashima's limp form.

"I-I am okay…" Musubi had to go on all 4s to stabilize herself, taking deep breaths.

Meanwhile, Tsukiumi tried her best to escape me, tossing everything she could at me but the limited area meant that sooner or later…

"Well, that was fun." I calmly stated at the vomiting Tsukiumi at my feet. Pommel to the stomach must hurt really badly, I reflected upon seeing flecks of red amidst the sick the water Sekirei threw up. Musubi, on the other hand, was the first one not to throw up or keel over after getting hit by my patented pommel-to-the-gut attack. While the two Sekirei gasped for breath, clutching their middles, I sat on a large piece of rubble – courtesy of Yashima – and waited for Gate:Swap to end. I put in just enough to last about 5 minutes, so the time should finish right about…now.

"Musubi!" Minato dashed over to his Sekirei who managed to sit up, leaning herself against another piece of rubble. "Are you alright? Tsukiumi! Are you-?"

"I am fine, Lord Ashikabi." Musubi attempted a smile but grimaced instead. "Oww…I guess I have to train more huh."

"I-I am fine." Tsukiumi surprised me by actually getting up and shambling over to Minato, a painful glare sent my way every couple steps. "It'll take more than that to bring me down!"

"I can offer more." I smirked behind my mask as she tripped and waved her arms to try to stabilize herself. Thankfully, Minato dashed over just in time to pick her up in his arms and settle her down beside Musubi gently. It was a bit funny to see the proud woman instantly turn into a red, stuttering mess by Minato's heroics.

Well, this has been fun, but I think it's time for me to return. As I began walking, I had to stop and dodge a random water ball. Looking back I saw Tsukiumi, still in Minato's arms, lower her hand and glare at me.

"Next time, I'll be prepared!" She claimed, determination burning in her sea blue eyes. "And I'll defeat you!"

"Hmm." I lowered my mask to give the woman a grin. "I will look forward to it."

"Lady…Rei…" I stopped beside Yashima's fallen form as she laid, her gray eyes clouded with pain looking upwards at the cloudy sky. "I…I tried…but…"

"You should train harder, little bird." I looked at the smaller Sekirei, blood slowly trickling out of her mouth. "In this terrible game we are forced to play, those who do not train themselves into the ground die first and fast. Consider this a lesson. Painful, but necessary."

"I…see…" Yashima coughed, more blood coming out of her mouth and Minato rushed over to her side, his eyes wide in panic, tears forming in them. "I'll…train. I'll…be…stronger."

"Good luck, little bird." I smiled at the girl. "Become strong, for your Ashikabi. Strong enough that he won't have to cry for you."

Yashima merely nodded and closed her eyes, focused on just breathing. Perhaps I've hit her a bit too hard… She should pull through, she's a Sekirei after all, but I think she'll be bedridden for several days if not for a week. Damn, I feel so evil right now, walking away from 3 beaten up Sekirei and their Ashikabi in tears, begging his bird not to die on him. Somehow, the scene scratched at my heart, forcing me to leave, faster than I anticipated.


	26. Gate:Dreams

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>This week is turning out like crap so far, I mused as I walked down some street in Shinto Teito in the evening. I couldn't even approach the MBI Tower without the ghostly feeling in my heart getting exponentially stronger. And the worst thing is, I couldn't do anything about it. Chiho was in Intensive Care Unit, recovering from a series of procedures that cured her illness and she'll stay there for at least several days more.<p>

The pull was so strong that I even began to have dream about her which proved that she was my True Ashikabi more than anything. The pair had to be very damn compatible to get dreams about each other. It's truly a pity the dreams were so short, we barely could get a decent conversation before it ended, the link getting too weak to support itself.

So I had decided to camp out with the Specialists guarding the Shinto Teito perimeter. Overall, I found their company enjoyable. It was kind of funny how much respect they had for the Disciplinary Squad and the complete lack of thereof towards all other Sekirei.

"They are like kids," Anton laughed as he explained it to me in thick Russian accent. "Kids with guns that someone gave them and showed where the trigger was."

"Now, that might seem dangerous," The big man continued, tinkering around with his exo-suit. "But us professionals will merely laugh at their attempts to look cool and intimidating."

"We respect you," Andromeda, a small blond European woman with twin SMGs at her hips picked up where Anton left off. "Because you earned it. The Black Sekirei, the Reaper, the Blue Sekirei and the Red Mist…You'll find that those 4 names are legendary in certain interest groups and circles."

"It's no surprise really." Mathew, a big black-skinned guy with a huge metal shield on his back and an automatic shotgun at his hip continued. "All of us have seen recordings of you in action and quite a few of us were on the clean-up missions to destroy all evidence after you left. Hell, we all even got favourites we all cheer on for!"

"Eh?" I stared at them in shock. These guys cheered us on as we killed their kind? What the hell?

"Yes." Anton moved his arm, testing out the exo-suit after finishing maintenance. "I for one cheer for Benitsubasa. Just seeing that girl take down buildings with a single punch...I get the shivers."

"Oi now," Andromeda poked the guy 3 times her size playfully. "No need to tell us all about your fetishes."

The sight of these 3 Specialist Captains – each one a monster in their own right – bickering like children over which Sekirei in the Disciplinary Squad is the 'best' using the most random criteria was…hilarious. Especially when they began arguing if I and Beni were cheating due to armour or if it was merely our way to catch up to Kara and Haihane. I also asked them if they've ever seen Akitsu in action. I was surprised to learn that Anton happened to be fighting by her side during the 2nd Kamikura Invasion. He spoke of her with reverence and pure awe in his voice.

I didn't take it against him though, from what I read Akitsu practically single-handedly stopped the marines from taking over Kamikura Town. Considering the garrison of the town was only about 50 grunts and as many Specialists, it's no surprise that the thousand marine strong force, reinforced with heavy armour, practically steamrolled the defenders. Or would've had if Akitsu didn't call down several comets to shatter the tank attack and then proceeded to make icy fortifications for the defenders, saving quite a few from instantly dying.

The most interesting thing happened at the end of our talks. Andromeda, bored to tears by her guard duty, challenged me to a fight. She did it with such a desperate expression that I just couldn't resist. Next thing I know, we are on a training ground, Specialists taking seats everywhere while Anton and Mathew took bets – mostly on how long Andromeda would last. There were quite a number of grunts on site too, each one of them expecting a spectacle.

Once everyone was seated, I let Andromeda go first, interested in seeing what she's got. That turned out to be a bad idea, I thought as I blindly dashed forward towards her, my gauntlets shielding my face from the barrage of bullets. I might've tried my usual style of dodge, parry and block but the stream of bullets was literally a stream. Andromeda somehow had 100% perfect accuracy on full auto with her dual SMGs.

No matter how fast I tried to move, her bullets would find me without fail. And so, I chased after her while she sprinted away from me – still laying down that perfectly accurate suppressive fire on me as she ran. The first time I tried to catch up to her during reload was also the last. Not only did she reload both of her SMGs within a second, she almost shot my eye out as I tried to peek to see where she was exactly.

Truthfully, I could've ended the fight anytime I wanted by just using my powers. However, I wanted to see if I could defeat her, a Specialist Captain, without my powers. So far, we got a tie. I couldn't get close enough while she couldn't find a weak spot in my solid armour and was forced to fire at the one place that wasn't armoured: my face.

Thankfully, like all things in this world, bullets tend to end eventually and when this happened, things got interesting. Andromeda holstered her SMGs and pulled out a couple short swords from somewhere. Ah, when I said that things got interesting, they got interesting for me. Although Andromeda's unerring precision in combination with her flawless technique were scary, she did not have Dietrich's ability to foresee my attacks before they even began. That meant that, at the end of the day, she simply couldn't keep up with me, our speeds were just far too different.

"I surrender." She stepped back after a couple minutes into the melee, clearly seeing that I was leisurely examining her at this point.

"To be honest, your melee was better than some Sekirei I've met." I admitted truthfully. Her skills with her SMGs were of course, so good that they didn't even need mentioning. I bet that she could take down most Sekirei just by pouring enough of her perfectly accurate bullets into them. It didn't work on me due to my armour and wouldn't work on higher level Sekirei but I had no doubt that Andromeda could take on a good portion of Sekirei and win. Honestly though, I expected as much; Andromeda was a Specialist Captain for a reason.

Over the week I've fought with Mathew and Anton as well, but the only one of the 3 captains that made me use my powers was Anton. The bugger had a plasma-thrower integrated into his left arm! If I didn't Gate:Open myself, I think he would've barbequed me.

I remember, years ago, how I thought my phase ability was useless. Granted, at the time I could only use Gate:Open after charging it up so it's use was limited. Now though, I can use it practically on the fly and my skill with it increased to the point where I can pretty much constantly spam Gate:Open with my swords. I've long lost track of the number of times Gate:Open saved my life.

Speaking of saving my life, I turned to find a very pissed Yukari, with her melancholic looking Sekirei by her side.

"You…" She literally shook with rage as she glared at me. "How dare you attack my brother!"

"…Wasn't I the one who got challenged?" I questioned the skies, knowing that she wasn't listening anyway.

"I trusted you!" The small girl raged on. "Shiina! Get her!"  
>"As you wish, my Ashikabi." Shiina clearly didn't want to fight me but went along with his Ashikabi's order anyway.<p>

This will be a difficult fight, Shiina's abilities are all area-of-effect and considering his power is Disintegration, any one without long-range abilities is screwed. The thing is though; I am 100% certain that I can kill Shiina. Considering that my abilities cannot be blocked nor parried, only dodged, this means that if I actually went for the kill, Shiina wouldn't stand a chance. However, considering I am going to try and defeat him rather than kill him, the situation is going to turn around a full 180. I simply don't have any abilities that I can safely use without Shiina getting critically injured in the process. Maybe I should just run away?

As I was thinking, Shiina ran up and hit me with a bright glowing palm. Or rather, he swiped at me right before getting into range of my blades and a pale gray wave washed over me.

"What?" Shiina stared at my ghostly form. Hmm, his power is very potent, in the half a second I stood in the blast wave, my tabard and haori turned into dust.

"What to do with you…" I mused as I stared at Shiina who grew more uncomfortable by the second. "I don't want to kill you but I can't defeat you without killing you…dilemma."

"You coward!" Yukari stroke a pose and pointed at me. "Come out and fight!"

"If I do, Shiina will die." My even voice full to the brim of certainty made Yukari flinch. "Or perhaps you are tired of him already? If you want, I can easily give you a way out-"

"No!" Yukari dashed up and covered Shiina with her body…déjà vu? "I'll never let Shiina go! He's my Sekirei and only mine!"

"Then why are you in such a hurry to kill him off?" I asked, confused. "Do you not know who I am?"

"Um..." Yukari scratched her head, embarrassed. "Should I?"

I pulled down my mask and facepalmed.

"Mistress…" Shiina sighed looking dejected. "Why didn't you ask me?"

"Oh come on!" She stomped her foot on the asphalt. "I just winged you 4 days ago! I didn't get a chance to figure anything out…"

"What do you know of the Disciplinary Squad." My eye twitched when Yukari shrugged nonchalantly and then I phased back into the Living Realm. "Right…Phone, call Takami."

"W-wait, w-why would you do that?" Yukari turned so pale that a mutilated corpse would look like the picture of perfect health in comparison.

"Hi Takami!" I cheerfully greeted the woman who grumbled at being disturbed. "Would you by any chance know why your daughter just sicced her Sekirei on me?"

"What." Suddenly, Takami's image came into existence as a hologram and surveyed the scene. Huh, I didn't know Takami managed to sneak install the holo-projector into my armour.

"Yu-ka-ri…" Takami's projection hissed as it advanced at the cringing girl. "You-"

"She attacked brother!" Yukari suddenly stood up straight, a spark coming to life in her eyes. "Because of her, Yashima is in agony right now, struggling to so much as breathe and Minato practically lives by her bedside now!"

Huh…I can't tell if she's madder about the fact that Yashima is injured or that Minato is practically drowning his downed Sekirei with affection and care.

"Yukari…" Takami's projection slumped. "Do you not understand? Had they challenged anyone else of Rei's level, Minato's Sekirei wouldn't be in the hospital. They'd be snug in their graves."

"Yep." I smiled gleefully at horrified Yukari. "Takami and I go way back so I took it easy on Minato and you. I actually have very few abilities that aren't mean to instantly turn my opponent into minced meat so that's why I decided against fighting Shiina."

"See you around!" I waved at the duo and left, Takami still talking to her daughter.

* * *

><p>As the days progressed, Chiho grew distraught in our dreams. Apparently, visits were allowed now as Kara, Beni and Haihane all spent a good deal of their time with their Ashikabi, telling her about the responsibilities of the Disciplinary Squad and what we did. Amusingly, it weren't the horrifying details of the missions we undertook to protect our kind that were bothering her. She was bothered by the fact that she wasn't sure if she could be of any help to us. Kara, impressed by this, suggested that she accompany us for the next mission and Chiho agreed if somewhat reluctantly. She said that she wanted to support us, who did so much for her and for our kind. She was rather apprehensive of the upcoming mission though.<p>

I couldn't do anything for her, being in a dream, all I could do was smile and try to convince her that's so long as she did her absolute best it'll be enough for us. It's not like we will ever let our Ashikabi actually fight with us, that's what we are here for. All we need Chiho to do is to be our anchor, a being we could all return to and know, at the end of the day; regardless of what we did, we would always be welcomed by her. It was as simple as that really, there was no need for her to be in danger. Chiho smiled at this and promised to try her best to always be there for us.

Chiho couldn't wait until she was healthy enough to wing me. She could see just what I was undergoing as I waited for her patiently. Chiho was rather protective of all her Sekirei, as a patient that spent nearly all of her life in constant pain in a hospital; she didn't want those close to her to suffer. She was rather empathic like that.

We also couldn't help but look around, awed by the dreamscape. The dreamscape, according to Takehito, was an amalgamation of surrounding area of both parties and the abilities of the Sekirei. For instance, he theorized, the dreamscape of Homura, number 6, would be Shinto Teito, burning to the ground

In our dreamscape though, we stood upon the roof of the MBI Tower, specifically the helipad upon which all new Sekirei arrived for their new life amongst humans. Around us, the skyscrapers of downtown Shinto Teito rose in challenge to the skies and everywhere was a myriad of soul orbs. In fact, the horizon just turned into a sea of ever shifting pale blue flame maybe but a hundred meters away. Even the surrounding buildings looked hazy making it seem like we are looking through a thick fog at them. The only thing that could be clearly seen through this endless ocean of blue fire was the dark-red sun that shined oppressively upon all. It was strange how this was like the Spirit Realm yet it was fully colored like the Living Realm. An odd combination of the two.

Unlike the real Spirit World, the soul orbs in the dreamscape weren't moving about randomly. Instead, they slowly drifted from somewhere below us towards the sky, like objects caught in a whirlpool. Except it wasn't a whirlpool, not even close. Directly above us was a gigantic black hole which took up most of the pale blue sky and absorbed the infinite mass of the soul orbs. We stood directly below it; one could liken it to being in the eye of the storm – a completely quiet and motionless area. It was as if a gigantic barrier surrounded the MBI Tower upon which we stood. In fact, one could almost liken it as a gigantic relay that pointed straight into the black hole which spun slowly in the sky above.

Sometimes, we just stood there, together, staring up the endless blackness of the reality tear in the sky above us. Just looking at the hypnotically moving endless mass of soul orbs that were disappearing into nowhere.


	27. Gate:Arbiter

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>As I traveled around the city over the week, I saw all types of Sekirei and their Ashikabi companions. Before, most of them hid away or tried to blend in with the populace. Now, they didn't have that kind of luxury anymore. More and more fights were breaking out in the middle of the day in all sorts of areas. We, the Disciplinary Squad, had to patrol the city and stop the fighting in crowded areas. Minaka was in no hurry to turn Shinto Teito into a Necropolis, at least, not yet. And so, we patrolled while the people of this most misfortunate city began to recognise the haori of the Disciplinary Squad as peacemakers of sorts.<p>

More than once, a civilian would run up to me and tell me of a fight in a nearby area and I'd go and either oversee it or stop it if there are civilians in the area. I'd like to say that we always arrived on time but that would be a lie. Over the week, 6 people died and over 10 times that number was injured and this was the result of just accidents. People would get caught by area-of-effect abilities or techniques that weren't even aimed at them.

The people of Shinto Teito began to look around with fear and mistrust, finding MBI positions to be a place of solace in this slowly heating up inferno of war. But what could normal people do in this gigantic mess that Minaka unleashed? The only thing they could do was either run to the nearest MBI outpost, pray to the gods that a Disciplinary Squad member was around, or die.

We, the Disciplinary Squad, became known as the Arbiters by the general public due to the announcement MBI made. Or rather, the White Clown appeared on the TV, spewed some random bullshit, gave us a random title – because the Disciplinary Squad was an inside name only - and then claimed that we are the ones with power to stop any fight we deem harmful to those around. So, for the people of Shinto Teito, we became their pillars of peace.

We were treated with great respect and, in some cases, even reverence. This was due to the fact that most Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs would drop the fight and run if there was word of our approach. The few that stayed and fought would always keep a wary eye on us, ready to leg it if we so much as disapprove of the current situation.

I honestly don't quite understand their paranoia concerning us. It's not like we did anything that would cause us to be labeled as 'flee-on-sight' right? Sure, occasionally some idiot started a fight in a crowded area and would still be fighting when we arrive. Sure, that idiot always ended up in the local hospital after a brutal beat down delivered by us who were rather disgruntled at the continuous running around the city we had to do. It's not like we killed or even permanently maimed anyone, so there wasn't really a need to fear us…right?

The first time Kara got greeted like Kami on Earth by the relieved citizens after stopping a fight she was so shocked that she took off the instant she was finished distributing indiscriminate justice. However, as this became more and more common, she got used to it and even admitted to me, on one of our evening walks, that she enjoyed the worship from these 'lesser creatures'.

As for others, Haihane merely rolled with it while Beni flees the scene due to embarrassment regularly after finishing up her duty. I just ignored the awed and thankful words, they were meaningless to me. I've had enough examples that I absorbed from Archive to know that fame was a fickle and very attention demanding thing. So I just decided not to bother with it.

"Lady Arbiter!" A young boy ran up to me gasping for breath and pointed a house behind him. "C-couple blocks that way – there's a fight!"

I nodded after glancing at the boy for injuries and then jumped up the nearest building, heading for the fight, the boy standing behind me with an open mouth in wonder. I heard the shouting and sound of combat long before I actually arrived. Considering the amount of said noise, I concluded that this was something much more than an average duel between 2 Sekirei meeting each other on a narrow street.

I sat down on the edge of the roof with my legs hanging down into nothingness, watching the battle unravelling before me intently. I think this might be the first massive battle in the Sekirei Plan history. The actors on this intersection which acted as a stage for this scene were: Minato hugging Yashima who sat on a wheelchair, both of them a short distance away from the fight. Then there was Musubi engaged in a brawl with that stripper from Chiho's hospital, Ichi-something her name was I think. Toyotama was dueling with a slowly heating up Tsukiumi who was getting frustrated at having all of her attacks getting dodged or blocked by her opponent's staff. Toyotama on the other hand dueled almost lazily, preferring to keep an eye on the situation and occasionally give out orders to her allies. Almost like a general of sorts on a battlefield.

The final actors of this entertaining midday show, was a young, familiar looking Sekirei and a teenage boy who both fled from a very angry Sekirei with 2 massive, evil looking blades. Occasionally, the fleeing Sekirei would briefly stop and hit her pursuer with a screech that shattered all nearby windows and disoriented her opponent for a little bit, allowing them to escape.

And so this whole thing continued for several minutes, until the sword Sekirei became so pissed that she stopped pursuing her targets and instead went for the nearest enemy she could see. This happened to be Minato who clutched his wounded Sekirei to his chest, watching the fight warily. However, he couldn't do more then get his precious cargo more than a couple meters before the sword Sekirei was upon them. Now, that wouldn't do, I thought as I jumped down and dashed to intercept. This fight is far too entertaining to end just yet.

"Wha-?" The sword Sekirei's eyes expanded in surprise when, instead of rending flesh and watching blood spurt out, a shower of sparks erupted from our interlocked blades.

"Now, now…" I said pleasantly as I forced her back with a shove. "Attacking Ashikabi is against the rules."

"Arbiter!" The girl hissed, recovering into a stance.

"Lady Rei?" Hmm, at least Yashima recovered enough to speak well, even if her middle was heavily bandaged and she looked pale.

"Ah, hello Reaper." Toyotama whirled her staff, shattering a dragon looking water spray into mist.

"You!" I think the only reason Tsukiumi didn't attack me instantly was that she knew that Toyotama wouldn't miss the chance to strike her in her back.

"Hello Lady Rei!" Musubi spared me a wave before launching herself back at her foe.

Meanwhile the girl before me clenched her teeth and stared at me in pure rage.

"I don't care who you are, Arbiter." She spit the last word out like it was a deathly insult and then charged me. "But you'll die all the same!"

"Kaiha!" Toyotama called out to her ally. "Stop it, you're going to die!"

"Shut up, I got this!" Kaiha yelled back, her blades constantly lashing out at me in a torrent of sparks as I parried. "I'll take this bitch down!"

I merely smiled behind my mask as I stood my ground, my back only a meter away from Yashima and her Ashikabi who tried to gently get her away from the fight. Amusingly enough, unlike her allies, the girl before me wasn't dressed like a stripper. If anything, her choice of clothes were downright tame and looked rather like the robes Miya wears. She did have a few differences like different colors and her sleeves were much bigger than Miya's, covering up the position of her hands on her hilts.

"Not bad." I admitted to the girl before me before amping up my speed and strength a notch. "Your technique is good, decent strength and excellent speed."

The girl growled at me like a wildcat as I began to force her back, my style of ignoring glancing blows giving me a significant advantage over my unarmoured opponent who had to do extra movement to avoid getting hit.

"But it seems it's not enough, mmm?" I grinned, my fake condoling tone tipping my opponent over the edge and sending her into berserker rage. This increased her speed and strength significantly, but sacrificed her technique and tactical thinking. This played a foul trick on Kaiha as, even though I was blocking and evading a lot more often now, all of my blows now landed and I had to limit myself to nicking her flesh and rending her clothes.

I frowned, if this continued, Kaiha would end up getting a Level 3 Deactivation from sheer blood loss and I wasn't quite ready to start killing my kin. So…

"Overall, decent." I sheathed my swords, Kaiha coughing out her insides at my feet, clutching her stomach. It was rather easy to defeat the berserker who couldn't even think anymore from the overwhelming rage. A simple Gate:Open to destroy her blades with one sword and the other buried it's hilt in her gut which ended the little duel.

"Kaiha!" Toyotama cursed under her breath at the sight of the weeping girl curled up in fetal pose in the pool of her own red tinged sick. "Ichiya, we are retreating!"

Before anyone could do anything, the pair dashed away and was gone in seconds, leaving their startled opponents behind.

"Hmm…" I hummed disappointedly at the end of this fight. "I hoped they'd stay."

"That was so cool!" Musubi looked at me with stars in her eyes. "Lady Rei is so strong!"

"Tch, what are you here for." Tsukiumi looked at me with intense dislike. "Here to fight us once more?"

And just like that, the atmosphere changed. Musubi and Tsukiumi both took stances while Minato, who was talking with the Ashikabi of the screeching girl, suddenly dashed in front of Yashima, covering her form from me with his body. The sound Sekirei hesitantly took a pose, fear in her eyes as she eyed my haori.

"Just your friendly neighbourhood Arbiter passing by." I lowered my mask to grin at Tsukiumi whose eye twitched. "Unless you want to challenge me again?"

Tsukiumi glowered for a second, opened her mouth to retort but then, much to my surprise, she looked over to Yashima and hesitantly shut her mouth.

"What shall you do with this Sekirei you defeated?" She finally asked instead of whatever she was going to say.

"Yea, are you going to deactivate that crazy girl?" The teenage Ashikabi took a step forward even as Kaiha cringed, curling up in a tight ball.

"Mmm…" I glanced down at the downed Sekirei and then turned to Tsukiumi. "Can you wash her please?"

Tsukiumi obliged with a slight pause, as if not sure what I was asking her of. A gentle wave washed away everything Kaiha threw up and left the naked girl gasping for breath, the shreds of clothing she had ripped away.

I took off my haori, wrapped up the startled, shivering girl and picked her up into my arms. Everyone just stared at me with wide eyes, Minato and his Sekirei confused at my actions while the teenager and his Sekirei gawked at my armour.

"Bye bye." I grinned at them and began to walk off, the Sekirei in my arms looking up at me with bigger eyes than I though was physically possible.

"W-what are you going to do with her?" Minato called at my back, confusion clear in his voice.

"Just taking her back to her Ashikabi." And so I left everyone stunned as I walked to Hiyamakai Hospital.

"W-why?" A tired voice attracted my attention as I walked down the streets of Shinto Teito, passersby getting out of my way with a fearful glance at the girl wrapped up in my haori. Of course, my dark red armour had absolutely nothing to do with it. I mean, they see tall women clad in plate armour that looks like it belongs in a science fiction story or game every day, right? There was a reason why I avoided nerds though, they were just creepy when they swarmed me every chance they could get asking me where I got the armour that made me look like an 'Adepta Sororita' or something. I don't even know what they were talking about.

"Why what?" I asked absentmindedly as I was trying to figure out which way to turn on this intersection to get to Higa's hospital.

"I-I am your enemy. I…insulted you." She dropped her gaze downward. "I fought to kill you…but…"

She was startled when I began laughing, my hands shaking with amusement.

"You? Enemy?" I took a gasp of air to calm down from the bout of laughter. "To me you are merely a temporary opponent. My wayward kin who doesn't know any better. I do not have any enemies, Kaiha. Not any who still live anyway."

The conversation sort of ended on that cheerful note. Kaiha went back to nurturing her stomach and I kept walking to Higa's hospital. It is kind of funny that I was 100 percent truthful when I said I had no living enemies. After being in Minaka's employ for over 3 years I've realized one, simple truth. Minaka is an escapee from the Local Mental Institution.

Oh, he may act lucid and somewhat normal at times, but that's all it is: an act. The moment something goes against his plans, this façade shatters instantly and the man becomes a foaming, raving lunatic. After understanding this, my hate for the man just…died and I began to pity him instead. I even decided that when I go back in time I won't kill him, I'll merely return him to his rightful place: a white room with padded walls and ever watchful men in white coats.

"Higa would like to speak to you." Toyotama approached me after having a couple Sekirei see Kaiha off to the Emergency Ward. I looked at her for several seconds, it was very disjointing to see a calm woman, aware of her worth and sure of herself…in something a stripper would wear.

"Hmm, I must've made an impression on him last time." I thought out loud, causing Toyotama to laugh softly, her hands over her mouth.

"Yes, you did." She turned around and guided me to Higa's office. However, unlike last time, this time she came in with me and stood by the door. This time around, Higa was pacing before the glass wall looking over Shinto Teito. Upon our entrance, he stopped and turned towards me, his face a stone mask as he studied me intensely.

"Number 51, Rei." He started with a soft, slow tone, his eyes on mine. "One of the 3 remaining Unwinged Sekirei, not counting Akitsu. Member of the 2nd Disciplinary Squad, Lieutenant of the 3rd. Despite numbering 51, your combat ability ranks you amongst the single digits."

At this point I was interesting, some of the things he said implied that he knew things not exactly open to the public. MBI might have a traitor somewhere…again.

"As of now, you hold a record of almost 100 missions completed and a kill count high enough to populate a large town." He continued, his eyes slowly roaming over my armoured form, my haori back on its rightful place. "And yet, for all that power, for all that ruthlessness, you've never terminated a Sekirei. You've never even injured them in a permanent manner. You do not care for humans, that much I can understand, but are Sekirei really that different?"

"Perhaps we are not." I smiled cryptically. "And that's what I like about my kin."

Higa covered his face with his hand; the little bit that I could see was a twitch of his lips. Toyotama on the other hand, stared at me with an odd amalgamation of reverence, surprise and determination.

"I see." Higa finally composed himself and stared at me with his cold eyes. "We are enemies, you defeat my Sekirei – and at the same time you save them. You'll forever remain an enigma to me it seems, a joker of sorts."

"I do not like feeling in debt." He finally got to the point after he got tired of looking at my smirk. "What do you want?"

"What I want, you cannot give." My smile widened. "You can either try and offer something of interest to me now or I'll hold a favour from you."

"After you took Chiho, I feel that I do not have anything right now that would satisfy you." Higa took a deep breath and sat down behind his desk. "Very well, so long as it's reasonable I'll agree to a favour later on."

"Excellent." I smiled and made my way to the window preparing to leave. "Have a-"

"Wait, please!" Toyotama called out, causing me to pause and glance back. "Can you please hold a practise spar with me? I am far beyond my allies and I need a strong opponent to continue growing."

"Mmm…why not?" I turned to face her, interested about her proposition. I've seen her fight with Tsukiumi after all, I think this will be very worthwhile for me.


	28. Gate:Spar

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Once more, I call upon you all to review. I am quite interested on your opinions about this story.

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><p>"Rather popular you are…" I reflected the surroundings as we stood, facing each other in a parking lot outside the hospital. Surrounding us were nearly a dozen Sekirei with Higa and someone who looked his secretary watching us in the background. Toyotama twirled her staff lazily with her right hand slightly off to the side and back, her eyes looking over me analytically. I simply stood at the ready, my swords pointing slightly downward before me.<p>

"Get her Captain!" The Sekirei around us cheered for Toyotama.

"Khmm, well, yes." Toyotama coughed, embarrassed from the support her fellow Sekirei showed her. "Higa always puts me as a leader in any venture I attend, so…"

"Hmm, well, here I go then." I nodded and then gave her a warning before dashing over. Toyotama's skill with her staff was very impressive to me. Not only did she block both of my blades but she also used the momentum gained by the block to jab the other end of her staff at me with blinding speed. It was a good thing my haori was currently hanging on the fence as otherwise she would've torn it off. I barely managed to dodge her strike, the end of the staff grazing my chest plate. I smiled, underestimating Toyotama was not a good idea and this was good because that meant I could amp up my speed and power.

It was a very interesting fight to say the least. I've never seen such skill with staves as Toyotama and her power…well, if Archive's hypothesis was correct, Toyotama was truly a mage slayer. Archive suggested that the stave Sekirei could siphon her enemy's power and even more interestingly, she could also siphon her opponent's power from the strikes and abilities that land on her staff. I wondered how she was able to ignore Tsukiumi for the most part and the probable answer was that Toyotama drained all the energy in her attacks, leaving just water which – albeit cold and plentiful – did nothing but give her a shower.

With each strike redirected, I could feel that some of my power I always kept stored in my blades would drain, forcing me to refresh it. I decided against using any of my abilities in this duel as this was a training session and Archive very much doubted that Toyotama was able to drain power fast enough to prevent Gate:Open from destroying her weapon. This meant that, because I didn't want the spar to end, I'd have to fight her with my physical abilities only, for now. And as impressive as they were, Toyotama was a master of redirection, her power ensuring nothing less. When not using my blades as an accelerator for her staff strikes, she'd tap my blades away from her body while also jabbing at me.

Still, we fought on as seconds turned into minutes, our speed and power behind our strikes slowly increasing. Soon, I was fighting as hard as when I was fighting Kara and at this point Toyotama could do nothing but defend with an occasional strike at me with from a redirected blow. She was strong, that I'll easily give and I'll even add that she impressed me greatly. I think she's the first non-single digit Sekirei who managed to do so. That being said, it's not like I actually fought many of my kind. Now that I think of it, there were…maybe 10 different Sekirei I've fought to date? I honestly don't know how many more gems lie out there like Toyotama.

It was 10 minutes into the fight and Toyotama began to breathe heavily while I began to show signs of fatigue too. Albeit Toyotama could siphon my energy, I was by far more durable and had more stamina then her. Honestly, the saving point of her style was that she never blocked, only redirected and dodged. In fact, her whole style seemed to conserve energy as much as possible and it was interesting, because I didn't think that someone with her power type would ever need to conserve energy.

"Can we start using our powers now?" Toyotama used the moment of respite to ask me as we stood across each other, a step away from engaging back into combat.

"Why not?" I shrugged and smiled at her wary glance at my blades which began to glow with an ethereal blue flame.

"Lance!" Toyotama jabbed at me as she jumped up high and away, her staff glowing purple and a beam of violet light stabbed out at me from above.

"Gate:Open." I slashed at the attack, redirecting it into the Spirit Realm. "Huh, didn't think you'd have long range attacks."

"I never said I didn't." She smiled and slashed at me with her glowing staff. "Crescent!"

This one I opted to dodge, letting the narrow wave of purple energy to continue past me and slam into a truck, cleaving it into two and carrying on for a couple more meters before dissipating into thick purple smoke. Now that we began using our powers, the Sekirei watching all took stances to flee at the first moment of trouble, their eyes studying us warily.

It was interesting, Toyotama stopped fighting me in melee and instead began to keep me at distance throwing around energy attacks which I either dodged or redirected into the Spirit World. Now that's all nice and fine, but I couldn't catch up to her! I actually noticed this a while back but my armour really doesn't let me chase after my targets. It allows nigh-perfect mobility in a fight but its weight slows me down when I try to catch up to someone significantly. This meant that the much lighter Sekirei was…what the fuck?

"I see you appreciate my wings?" Toyotama smiled at my dumbfounded expression as she hovered a dozen meters off the ground, her vivid amethyst Sekirei wings gently flapping to keep her up in the sky. "I am rather surprised by how much power I was able to steal off of you."

Huh…so she saved up all of her power to turn into a flying caster fighter in the latter stages of the fight. I must admit, this was a solid strategy against practically any opponent that doesn't instantly kill her within the first several seconds of combat. And if she did meet such an opponent, something tells me that she could use her own power to fly away for at least long enough to escape. It truly was a pity that she was a future opponent. What I wouldn't give to have someone like her on the Disciplinary Squad.

"You know," I stood below her, looking up. "If you weren't winged, we'd have recruited you into Disciplinary Squad instantly."

"But, unfortunately, that cannot be done anymore." I sighed heavily even as everyone else was shocked into silence. "Gate:Swap."

Toyotama tried to outfly the pale blue wave but the shock of my statement slowed her down enough for it to clip her and pull her into the Spirit World with most of the parking lot coming with us. I put a lot of energy into this ability to ensure that not only does it cover a big area, more importantly, that it doesn't break upon contact with the Siphoning Sekirei.

"Welcome, to the Spirit Realm." I welcomed Toyotama who was looking around with great interest across the black and white world. "Please stay inside the dome at all times or you'll be trapped here for ever."

Speaking of which, I really should experiment to see if what I say is actually true. I've never had anyone actually get out of the dome when I pulled them in. They either took what I said for granted or they didn't live long enough to get out. I should go pick up some trash or something after this fight and see what happens when they get out.

"You can't chase me so you limit the area where I could run." Toyotama analysed as she hanged near the top of the dome, her immaterial wings flapping gently. "An arena of sorts."

"But you still can't reach me." She looked down and jabbed her spear at me again. "Lance."

I dodged this one and grinned at my hovering opponent. I may not be able to fly, but jumping 10 meters into the air? Piece of cake.

"Woah!" Toyotama fell out the air with wide eyes, fragments of her staff falling beside her. I caught her before we made contact with the ground and found myself, once again, with a Sekirei in my arms. Unlike Kaiha, this one pouted at me though.

"Damn it, so close." She closed her eyes and tipped back her head with a sigh. "If only I didn't grow so complacent with my wings."

"Well, I'll admit, this was by far, one of the best fights I've ever had." I stood up straight from the small crater and looked at Toyotama who was relaxing in my grip. "…Don't tell me you're about to fall asleep."

"Mya…" Toyotama yawned and opened one icy blue eye to look at me hazily and then shut it again. "Tired…"

"Tch." I huffed and sat down, careful not to pinch her waterfall of green hair. I guess it makes sense that Toyotama falls asleep instantly after admitting defeat. After fighting for 15 minutes at the height of her power, the moment she finished the stressful event, Toyotama fell asleep to recover both her strength and her nerves. Honestly, I found her to be an excellent training opponent. Fighting her was sort of like fighting Yume, just without the overpowered part and with her fighting with weapons rather than fists. Well, that and Yume couldn't fly.

"Are you going to come back from this…Spirit Realm?" Higa stopped at the edge of the barrier, looking through the hazy blue thing at me and his Sekirei, something lurking in his eyes as he looked at Toyotama. "If you wouldn't mind, I need my right hand back here with me."

"Care about her, do you?" I looked at him, interested to hear his response. Higa just didn't strike at me like someone who would care about all of this love bullshit Minaka spewed.

"It would be rather difficult to continue without the person who is the captain of my forces and my personal assistant." Higa acknowledged easily, his hands in the pockets of his dress pants as he looked at me into my eyes. "Toyotama is irreplaceable to me so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like her back now."

What a strange way to care about his Sekirei. On one hand, he makes it known that she nothing more than an irreplaceable piece for him on this giant chessboard of Shinto Teito, on the other hand…the fact that he stated that she is irreplaceable alone harbours some thought. Perhaps there was more between the two then a cold business relationship. Who knows? According to Takehito, the bond gently affects both parties, making it much simpler to fall in love with each other. Maybe Toyotama truly did become something more for Higa. Not that I'll ever know, the man would deny it even if it killed him.

"…This ability collapses by itself and then throws back everything within the dome back into the Living Realm." I finally answered after coming back from my thoughts. "I think a couple more minutes and the bubble will burst."

Higa nodded resolutely and then sat down on the hood nearby car, waiting. All around us Sekirei were talking about the fight in excited tones and the revelation I handed out during the fight. It would seem the fact that their leader was judged to be good enough for Disciplinary Squad was very important to them.

As I predicted, the dome collapsed within 2 minutes and suddenly, Toyotama was out of my grasp and into Higa's careful one as he walked away without sparing me a glance. I simply smiled at his show of care, to think that he was capable of something like that; perhaps the Ashikabi of the East is going to go further than anticipated in this war.

Looking at the carefree Sekirei gossiping with each other, I couldn't help but ruin the mood with a final jab before leaving.

"Toyotama is good, excellent even." I called out to them, causing them all to stop and listen. "But there's a reason I am only a Lieutenant of the Disciplinary Squad. Perhaps you lot should stop hiding behind her back and show us what you can become?"

And with a smile, I left, the Sekirei behind me muttering about cheaters.

As I wandered the quiet for once evening city, I talked to Uzume who decided to enlighten my evening with her presence. She talked about how she got banned from Chiho's room, gesturing wildly while I laughed at the situation. Apparently, Uzume tried – for gods know which time – to suffocate her Ashikabi with kisses once more when Akitsu dropped by and banned her from Chiho's room for eternity or until Chiho recovers, whichever comes first. When Uzume tried to argue, she suddenly found herself frozen solid in an ice crystal and workers, with many swears, transported her out and into her room on the Disciplinary Floor.

At this, I grew interested. Uzume got her own room? Turns out she did, according to her she had no idea what to do with the gigantic space given. She tried filling it up with the battalion of stuffed animals and costumes she had but even after that and a bunch of furniture she still had plenty of room to spare. She even asked me how I managed with the emptiness. At this point I laughed and said I didn't. The amount of times I actually slept in my room per month could be counted on the fingers of 1 hand. I generally slept in Kara's room and we were quite fine with the situation.

Ignoring Uzume's pout I asked what her symbol was on the door. When she looked at me, confused, I explained that we all had our symbols engraved on our room doors rather than names. I told her of my orb of blue flames, Kara's black sword on a red field, Yume's golden sun encasing the Sekirei symbol, Haihane's tornado around crossed claws and Beni's dark red wings spread out in their full glory. Uzume nodded in understanding and said that her symbol was apparently the Sekirei symbol wrapped up in white cloth. I nodded in thought; it did fit the Veiled Sekirei to have such a symbol.

I also brought up the topic of Uzume's training; Kara was very intent on bringing Uzume up to her standards. This of course meant hours of constant sparring where Uzume desperately tried her best to avoid getting skewered by the lightning fast Black Sekirei. Although she complained to me loudly about the harsh conditions, she, equally quietly, said that she very much appreciated the training and felt much stronger than before. Well, at least she now lasted 15 seconds against a serious Kara as opposed to 3 when she just started. Quite an achievement, I smirked.

She was also very apprehensive of the upcoming mission on which we will all go with Chiho. Uzume was very much against it but admitted that it was necessary and, for all her vocal whining, agreed to do it. They both needed to understand us, the Disciplinary Squad who became their new family.

Uzume decided to stick around with me, patrolling the city. Considering that she was unwelcome in the Tower during Chiho's recovery and the fact that Kara phoned over and told me to handle her training for now, everything turned out fine.

"Are you seriously trying to kill me?!" Uzume yelped as she ran from my gently glowing swords, not willing to let Gate:Open anywhere near her. Her veils trailed behind her, occasionally trying to envelop me or spear me. I simply ran on, ripping through her veils trying to slow me down.

"Yes I am, did you just realize that?" I laughed at the fleeing Sekirei. "And then Chiho will belong to me, all alone! Mwahahha!"

"Why you!" Uzume turned around and unleashed a barrage of veils at me, skidding along the ground as her veils supported her in pseudo-levitation. "That'll never happen!"

"And who's going to stop me?" I dodged, blocked and parried my way over to the sweating Sekirei who tried everything she had to slow my approach. Although Uzume could will practically unlimited amount of threads and cloth into existence, she couldn't split her mind to give out more than 6 commands at the same time to her veils. Considering she could have up to a hundred veils out at once at this point, the fact that she had to split them into 6 groups to manage them efficiently wasn't all that great. That and the fact of the matter was that she hadn't really practised her role as a tactician to command all of her veils individually. If she could think of 6 simultaneous different attacks and perhaps even combo them, then even Kara would have a difficult time getting to her.

And so, most of our training was her trying to figure out how to use her veils to attack me at once during combat. Every morning started with us just standing across one another as she practises her control and tactical thinking while I stand there and defend against everything she tosses at me. As a support – ranged fighter, Uzume is a very valuable addition to the team. So long as she can stand there and concentrate, she is a very difficult opponent to fight. Why, just this morning during the exercise, she managed to hit me several times and those were good, solid hits. However, the problem arises when we try to do actual combat like right now. She can't use her abilities well under pressure and her control drops from 6 to 2-3 maximum which is by far not enough to overwhelm me.

So, the verdict so far is that she is by far not ready for solo action. She's great as support but that's about it…I sighed and stopped, my blades at her throat once more.

"So much to do, so little time…"


	29. Gate:Bridge

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"This is MBI post number 49, we are under attack! The electrical substation is destroyed!"<p>

"This is MBI post 55 we have been overwhelmed! Require immediate assistance! Oh god the plants-!"

"This is Specialist Valerii of post 64, we are under attack by multiple Sekirei, we cannot hold out for long! Watch out-!"

"This is Captain Anton, we are on our way to post 49, Captain Andromeda is on her way to post 55, Captain Mathew is on his way to post 64-"

"This is Arbiter Rei speaking. Belay that order for Mathew, I am moving out to post 64." I cut into the MBI frequency that practically erupted into chaos this late evening.

"Roger that, Captain Mathew is on standby." Mathew's gruff, disappointed tone called back.

"Uzume, we need to go." I turned to my fellow Sekirei who was looking at me with a serious expression as I spoke. "Someone is attacking MBI positions in the North, the location we are going, number 64, is an old train bridge. We must hurry."

"Alright." Uzume nodded and transformed her normal clothing into her battle outfit. Unlike her outfit from before that favoured mobility, this one had several veils orbit protectively about her. After getting nearly sliced and diced courtesy of me and Kara, Uzume learned to appreciate having something between her body and our blades. It was so nice to see improvement of our student and it only took a week and about 30 duels with an overwhelming opponent that left her panting on the ground in pain.

We dashed over to the North, the bridge only a couple minutes away from the restaurant I and Uzume were relaxing in. Well, for a Sekirei's dash that is. Amusingly enough, we, the Arbiters, learned to appreciate the fearsome reputation that Miya has created to protect her Takehito from the Sekirei Plan. It was so nice patrolling here, nothing ever happened as everyone was far too afraid of calling down the wrath of the Hannya of the North. Although Kara wasn't particularly entertained by Miya's title, I found it rather fitting. Anyone who was on the receiving end of that creepy mask of hers agreed with me. Takami mentioned something about Miya learning it from Takehito but I've never seen the guy do it and, I mean, he was a regular human wasn't he? Not even a Specialist so there's no way that he could have had that freaky thing before Miya.

As we dashed on, I could see fire begin spewing out black smoke into the evening sky, rising from the bridge we were running to. We could see and hear the explosions and gunfire from this point but it was very sporadic and weak, it would seem that the MBI soldiers are almost overrun. Damn it, we were still about 60 seconds out, I don't think we'll arrive on time to save anyone. From this distance, I could barely make out the shadows dancing about; dodging the ordinance the MBI soldiers sprayed them with. There were…4? No, there were 5 Sekirei attacking and they were already at the main outpost, only the final barricade was still intact and offering some resistance.

At a closer distance, I could see them overwhelm the final barricade and then one of the Sekirei began a duel with a Specialist judging by their characteristically dark red uniform as opposed to the standard black MBI grunt uniform. The rest of the Sekirei gathered around in a loose circle, their Ashikabi coming behind. All in all, I saw 5 Sekirei and 5 Ashikabi.

"Stay behind me and provide long range support." I ordered Uzume as we closed in, seconds away from reaching our destination. Seeing Uzume nod I put on a final burst of speed and landed just in time to knock away several throwing daggers a Sekirei threw at the Specialist. The man was tired and overall looked like crap but unlike the rest of his group he was still on his feet and battle able. A small distance behind me, Uzume fluttered down, her veils coiling around her like snakes, ready to strike anything their master points them at.

"I am pretty sure attacking MBI is against the rules." I smiled dangerously at the group before me, my mask on my neck as I was too busy trying to get here to put it on.

"Arbiter!" One of the Ashikabi, a brown haired guy in a hoodie exclaimed.

"Lady Rei!" I stared at Musubi in shock, Minato's pale form standing slightly behind her.

"Oh god, it's the Reaper." Another Ashikabi, this one a familiar teenager, his sound Sekirei staring at me with fear as she peeked from behind her Ashikabi's back.

"Rei?" Oh gods, what have I done lately to deserve this? What the hell is Yukari and Shiina doing here!?

"Milady!" The Specialist saluted. "Reporting near total casualties, I believe I am the last one left ma'am."

"I see." My voice grew quiet and soft as I glanced back at the man. "Leave."

"Yes ma'am!" The man saluted and ran off, with a slight limp, towards the other end of the bridge.

"So." I looked at the group before me, my eyes narrowed. "You come here, kill MBI's personnel and then expected to get away with it? I am sorry, that is no longer an option."

"We didn't kill anyone…" The girl with short red hair in a schoolgirl outfit with daggers held at the ready pouted. "Just knocked them out and maybe cut them a bit."

"We are trying to escape MBI, not make it hunt us down." The Ashikabi standing beside the girl in a tracksuit with the claymore – familiar looking girl if I might add, did I see her somewhere before? – said quickly. "We were going to come here, knock them all out and leave, we don't want any more trouble."

"Ah, I see." My voice lost the dangerous tone as I relaxed a bit. "That's good that means I won't have to kill you all. Now, leave before I change my mind."

"We won't." The teenager with the plain clothed sound Sekirei stepped forward, determination in his eyes. "We won't partake in this sick game. We won't risk our loved ones for some mad man and his plan!"

"Mmm, although I understand your point," I sighed heavily. "I cannot allow you to pass. Sorry."

And with that, everyone took a battle position in a semi-circle around me as I drew my blades slowly.

"I see you aren't going to leave." I stood in my usual stance, my blades pointing slightly towards the ground and before me. "I guess Uzume and I will have to stop you then."

"Uzume?" Minato and Yukari chorused, wide eyed at the Veiled Sekirei behind me. "Is that really you?"

"Tch, you just had to tell them Rei." Uzume took off her hood and looked at me with dislike.

"Ah, so sorry." I glanced back sheepishly. "I thought you told them."

"Told us what?" The siblings stared at Uzume intently.

Uzume glanced at me but I merely shrugged, this was hers to deal with. I am not going to break anything else by accident here.

"I ended up joining the Disciplinary Squad." Uzume stated casually. "Both I and my Ashikabi. So I am now Arbiter Uzume, pleased to meet you all!"

"Eh!?" At this pretty much everyone looked at Uzume with newfound fear. The Disciplinary Squad was well known for its high standards and power after all.

"B-but how?" Yukari stuttered, staring at the person she thought was a friend. "What happened? Why are you against us now?"

"MBI did something that leaves me in their eternal debt." Uzume looked at me with silent thanks. "Or rather, Rei did and because of that I am now here, covering her back."

"Does it matter?" The Ashikabi with the hoodie exclaimed. "We have 5 Sekirei here against these 2! We even got the Devil Ashikabi and her Shinigami on our side! There's no way we can lose this."

"Are you a moron?" The guy, whose arm was around the claymore Sekirei's waist, glanced at the man, inciting a growl from the Sekirei with knives. Hmm, apparently she belongs to him. "This the Reaper we are talking about here, the only way this situation could possibly be worse if the Black Sekirei was here. Mai and I have fought against her before; we got obliterated in under a minute."

"So? I've heard the Shinigami has one-shot several Sekirei already, how is this going to be any different." The hoodie argued.

"Stop arguing!" Yukari stamped her foot on the cement. "We are running out of time! Either we try or all of our efforts will be for nothing! Shiina!"

"Death Flower!" Shiina dashed forward and unleashed a disintegration blast that went right through me on the account that I phased into Soul Form moment prior. I dashed through him and whirled around going back to the Living Realm, preparing to stab him in the back.

"Alright, go Mai!" The guy with the claymore Sekirei shouted, his Sekirei dashing forward, her greatsword causing me to abort my attack on Shiina's back to dodge the blow that bit deep into the cement cover of the bridge.

"Get her Leiko!" Hoodie commanded his dagger Sekirei into combat.

"Musubi…" Minato turned to his Sekirei and hugged her. "Be safe."

"Kuno…you know what to do." The teenager with the sound Sekirei looked at me grimly.

"Yes, Lord Ashikabi!" Musubi nodded cheerfully and charged at me. "I'll show you that I got better!"

"Avoid her swords when they glow blue!" Yukari shouted at the melee, making sure that her allies don't get caught off guard.

This was a very…confusing fight. It was also hell of a fun one! Mai spun in a dance with her claymore locking me down. Musubi covered Mai's back and prevented me from doing more than occasionally retaliating to whenever possible – which wasn't often. Leiko was trading blows with Uzume whose silk clothes made it impossible for the knife Sekirei to get her however Leiko's real goal was to force Uzume to concentrate on her which she did well. The greatest challenge was actually the fact that they all fought together against me. Musubi, Mai and Shiina held me practically in one spot, unable to do much more than defend against them. Whenever I tried to do something, Kuno would blast me with a narrow screech that would throw me off balance for a moment. Thankfully, Uzume was still doing what she could with Leiko running away from her more often than not and occasionally striking out at the Sekirei fighting me, buying me moments of precious time.

This is not getting anywhere. Although they couldn't use any powerful abilities for the fear of hitting their own, neither could I. Because I trained all of my abilities to be area-of-effect, I couldn't use them on this bridge. Not only is it liable to destroy the whole structure, sending us all down into the icy depths, but it was also guaranteed to kill the MBI soldiers lying about, unconscious. That and I weren't sure that Uzume would be fast enough to get out… And then there's the fact that Takami is liable to kill me if anything happens to Yukari or Minato. Gods damn this whole situation!

I twitched and shifted into Soul Form, an arrow whistling through my head. Great, not only do I have to fight Mai, Musubi, Shiina and Kuno but Mai's Ashikabi pulled a longbow out of nowhere and was currently aiming another arrow at me. What the fuck, where did he get actual arrows from in the first place!? I shifted rapidly back and hacked at Musubi, not even caring anymore about anything at this point. I was moving at speeds close to my maximum and I still couldn't do any significant damage to anyone. I hardly think that bloody scratches and torn clothing on my opponents' counts. As I expected, Musubi leaned back just enough that my one of my blades only drew a line through her clothes while the other was knocked off course by Mai's claymore.

Grrr, I am getting pissed at this whole situation. I am practically forced to fight with only my physical abilities and Gate:Open against 4 Sekirei who actively use their abilities. Albeit Shiina had to use weakened version of his disintegration to avoid friendly fire, it didn't stop it from hurting like a bitch when he hit me dead on with it.

"Rei!" Uzume cried out when she saw me stumble from taking the blow. "Damn it!"

"Oi, where you think you're going?" Leiko threw a couple more daggers that nearly hit Uzume in the head. "I am your opponent. Are you sure you're even an Arbiter? Compared to your friend over there, you're pathetic."

Uzume growled in return and lashed out with nigh-hundred strands at her opponent who had to jump far away to avoid it.

"I…am…getting…annoyed!" I hissed through my teeth as I spun on the spot, my opponents dashing away to avoid getting hit by the circles I drew with my blades as I did 360 degrees. "Gate:Nova!"

The line I drew exploded, a pale blue wave lashing out at everything surrounding it. Gate:Nova was a fairly basic ability that I rarely used as it was far more efficient to use Gate:Open for the amount of damage dealt. Gate:Nova drew power from the concept that to create Gate:Swap I'd draw a circle and then slice it open with Gate:Open. To create Gate:Nova I drew 2 Gate:Swaps in the exact – or almost exact – location and then triggered them. The two Gate pulses collided and the resonance lit everything nearby with blue fire. Or at least significantly heated it up. The interesting thing about Gate:Nova as opposed to Gate:Swap from which it originates, and the reason why I used it, is that the resonance spread out as a thin disk instead of a sphere, meaning that it won't hit the soldiers lying on the ground, far below the disk.

"Argh!" Leiko's Ashikabi screamed as his clothes caught on fire. He got clipped by Gate:Nova when trying to get away and, due to distance, rather than getting instantly incinerated, only his clothes got lit up. Disappointingly, he was the only casualty of my ability. Mai's Ashikabi was too high up for my ability to hit, Shiina, Minato and Yukari hit the ground and avoided the pulse, Mai used her blade as a shield and absorbed the hit. Musubi happened to trip at the last possible moment and fell over, the wave harmlessly passing over her head.

"Master!" Leiko dropped the fight and dashed over to her Ashikabi who was rolling around on the ground, howling in pain. Unfortunately for her, Uzume took the chance to spear her in the back. Leiko managed to twist around and avoid getting terminated instantly but I very much doubt she's going to be fighting anymore, not with three holes in her body.

"Death Garden!"

"F-fuck that h-hurt…" I got up, coughing, and shook my head, my ears ringing and my vision swimming. I dodged Shiina's ability only to get hit by Mai's claymore, much like a baseball meeting a bat. Even though I blocked it, the hit was so strong it hit me into a van which was burning from Gate:Nova. The hit proved to be too much for the poor vehicle and it exploded, sending me flying straight into a bridge beam and as if that wasn't enough, I fell down heavily for about 5 meters right on my back afterwards. I blinked and had to wipe the blood off my face, apparently I was bleeding from my brow.

"We should leave!" Uzume hissed to me, concentrating at forcing back the opposition to prevent them from finishing me off. "You can barely stand!"

"N-no," I blinked again and shook my head slightly, clearing my vision. "I can still go on."

"Until what? There's just too many of them." Uzume said this through her teeth, still concentrating on keeping Mai, Shiina and Musubi back. From what I could see, she was being overwhelmed and rather fast. Shiina blasted aside her veils like they were nothing and Mai sliced through them as gracefully as ever, her sharp claymore leaving the silk no chance. Musubi merely dodged and danced around the veils, gaining ground, a determined look in her eye.

Tch, it looks like I'll really have to get serious here and screw the friendly fire. I can't lose like this.

"Uzume." I called out calmly, my swords glowing blue at the ready. "Get out of the way."

As Uzume leapt back, I walked forward slicing an incoming arrow in 2 without pause. Thanks to Uzume taking out Leiko it was now only 4 on 2, much better…fuck…

"Looks like I have arrived just in time!" Tsukiumi landed on the bridge mere meters away, simultaneously dumping a large amount of water to extinguish the flames on Leiko's Ashikabi. Meanwhile, Yukari and Kuno's Ashikabi were tending to Leiko, trying to bandage her up to prevent her bleeding out.

"Tsukiumi!" Minato dashed over with relief on his face. "You came!"

"O-of course I came!" Tsukiumi blushed at Minato's greeting. "Now I will finally have my revenge from that battle!"

"Hmm." I scratched the back of my head with the hilt of my right blade. "This is getting serious."

"You thought we were joking around before!?" Mai's Ashikabi exclaimed in disbelief, lowering his bow slightly.

"Well, yea." I smiled at the shocked guy. "I mean, I wasn't aiming to kill you before. Now though, I don't think I have that sort of freedom anymore."

"I really didn't want to kill MBI's men by accident," I continued my blades glowing brighter. "But it would seem that I have no choice anymore."

"Shiina, back!" Yukari called out as she grabbed Leiko and dragged her away with all of her haste, Kuno's Ashikabi helping.

"Gate:Random." I calmly called out even as I stabbed my blades into one spot directly in front of me, emptying all of the power I stored into them. Before me appeared a small circle, a hole into the Spiritual Realm that lasted for a moment until I slashed outwards to rip it open with a low sound that resonated within everyone present.

"What the-" Mai's Ashikabi was probably about to swear but Mai didn't let him. She charged him and grabbed his body with one arm while dashing away at full speed, her Ashikabi hanging on her arm, his bow forgotten on the car. She managed to save her Ashikabi just in time too; the car he stood on suddenly was torn into three by a pale blue Aurora-like tendril that bent in a weird shape. More and more of these tendrils lashed out in random directions and in random ways, all originating from the Rift I created. The one place they never did hit though was where I was standing. They'd coil around me but they would never directly go for me.

The bridge groaned, parts of its construction suddenly going missing as they were pulled into the Spirit Realm. A tendril phased a huge part of the supporting beam structure that trailed over our heads and suddenly, there were large metal beams falling everywhere as they were now missing their support. One of the beams clipped Shiina, a pained scream erupting from the young Sekirei as his arm hanged limply, blood dripping down the shredded arm sleeve.

I watched, in sad silence as several of the tendrils sliced through the men lying unconscious on the scene, parts of their bodies leaving them to go to the Spirit Realm. At least they all died quickly and without agony, most of them bleeding out instantly as large parts of their bodies suddenly weren't there anymore.

"Minato!" I looked over at Yukari's desperate shout to see Minato standing, frozen in horror, as one of the metal beams fell on him. I sighed and closed my eyes in tired acceptance. This was why I haven't used my usual abilities so far in the Sekirei Plan; they were just doomed to hit something I wasn't aiming for. I had so very few abilities that weren't extremely dangerous to everyone around me. Even Gate:Open, which I use all the time, can instantly kill a Sekirei if I am not careful.

"Musubi!" A heart wrenching cry caused me to open my eyes and I stared in surprise at the scene before me. Minato was on his knees, extreme shock on his pale face, before Musubi who lay unmoving under the beam that was intended for him. It seems that she pushed him out of the way but was unable to get out from under the beam in time to save herself. The bridge groaned once more as the Rift began to slowly close, the tendrils of broken barrier between the realms slowly stitching shut. Then came the secondary effect of Gate:Random.

Gate:Random pulled anything it touched into the Spirit Realm for a short while and, when it closed, everything that was pulled in was ejected back into the same spots it was taken from. The trouble was, generally after a piece of a whole is taken out, the rest of said whole shifts due to gravity or pressure from other parts. Regardless, almost always, the original spot that the phased object used to occupy is taken. So what happens when said object tries to phase back into the Living World? It pushes aside everything that is in the way of it getting back into its rightful place and it does so violently.

With soft splashing noises, the missing pieces of the soldiers reappeared but in all the wrong positions. Because the bridge shuddered and shifted, the soldier's pieces also shifted and so now I had the dubious pleasure of seeing pieces of MBI grunts caught by friendly fire fly all over the place as they were ejected by the reappearing parts. Even worse where the bridge parts that phased back in only to find their places were occupied by shifted structure. Some were relatively lucky and came back to simply find that their support wasn't there anymore and they merely fell down. The rest…

I knelt, my swords hacked deep into crumbling cement, anchoring me to the spot, as the bridge moved. Again, the beams, the rubble and even some cars now were sent flying by reappearing missing parts. How the bridge still stood at this point, with huge sections of it missing, I do not know. Above me was Uzume, swearing like a sailor as she hanged on for her dear life on what little remained of overhead bridge support. And then, finally, everything began to stop. The Rift closed completely, all the parts were either back in their place or forced their way back into place and the bridge finally stopped moving. It still looked like it miraculously survived a heavy artillery strike though, with large portions of both the sides, the overhead bridge support and even the actual bridge floor missing, sunken somewhere deep in the river.

I turned my gaze from my surroundings to my opponents, interested to see what actually happened to them. Mai and her Ashikabi were nowhere to be seen, Leiko and her Ashikabi were with Kuno and her Ashikabi who were at the far end of the bridge, afraid to approach the severely damaged middle. Yukari and Shiina stood beside them, Yukari fussing over her pale Sekirei who clutched at his unnaturally bent arm, blood dripping down it. She even proceeded to rip at her skirt to make makeshift bandages for him. The only ones still in the immediate vicinity were Minato, who was weeping over Musubi's body, Musubi who was still motionless under the great beam and Tsukiumi who hacked at the beam with what looked like her water sword but this one, unlike the last time I saw it, seemed to be made of extremely compressed water, easily slicing through solid metal a foot thick. Hmm, looks like she evolved her powers since last time I saw her.

Overall, the damage inflicted was rather light, Gate:Random didn't actually hit anyone aside from the MBI grunts and all of the damage done was due to the bridge coming apart. I honestly didn't expect anything else from my only Siege type ability. My goal wasn't to take down my opponents; it was to destroy this damn bridge. Which still fucking stood! What the hell, I've destroyed buildings and battleships with Gate:Random yet this damn bridge just doesn't want to go down.

"Next time, could you warn me before you bring about a local Armageddon!?" Uzume floated down to stand beside me, her face pale and sweaty from the stress she underwent. Several of her veils seemed torn, regenerating from the damage even as she spoke.

"Sorry." I smiled gently, embarrassed. "I kind of got used to Kara never getting hit by it so I somehow thought you'd be fine. I'm sorry."

"Tch," Uzume sighed and then turned to look at the drama before us, a pained look on her face. "This…this is what awaits us all in this cruel game, isn't it…"

"Yes." I replied simply and closed my eyes shut, tired, the battle finally getting to me.

"What the-?" Uzume murmured in wonder. I opened my eyes and looked at the sight before me, shocked. Somehow, Musubi got up from under the beam and was glowing a pale yellow light, like there was a sun behind her that illuminated her figure. Except that it was nearly midnight at this point so that was impossible. Yet…

"To all those who stand in the way of love!" Musubi cried out, clenching her fist and striking a pose. "This number 8 will be your opponent!"

I blinked and stumbled forward, wondering offhandedly if the concussion I suffered during battle was causing me to hallucinate.

"Yume?"


	30. Gate:Yume

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"Rei?" Yume in Musubi's body turned and faced me, confused for a moment before her expression changed to disappointment. "So it's you who stands in the way of these loving hearts? How disappointing. Tell me Rei, since when does the Disciplinary Squad attack those it was created to protect?"<p>

I stopped, standing on the edge of a chasm I was about to jump over, Yume on the other side. Her words shocked me into nearly stumbling down into the churning waters below. I couldn't believe my ears, what the hell? Not even a greeting after such a long disappearance and she immediately accuses me?

Suddenly, I felt the feelings I've thought long forgotten resurface; the sorrow of her death, the anger of her ditching us and the despair at realizing that our best chance of securing a good future for our kind was gone. But all of this was soon swallowed by pure rage and sorrow at realizing that the person I admired and thought to be a friend was now standing before me, accusing me of some stupid thing.

"How dare you…" I hissed, hurt and angry. "I sweated, bled and fought beyond the point of exhaustion to protect my kind. I killed so many that if I bothered to count the corpses it would a population of a small city. I did all of this to protect my stupid, blind and dumb race from the darkness of humanity!"

My voice slowly rose as I, unaware of this, practically yelled at Yume, ignoring the mutters between the bystanders. Only Yume mattered to me right now.

"You…you dare call me disappointing? You, who were our hope, our beacon of light who just went and died for a stupid reason; you are our disappointment!" Yume flinched and opened her mouth but I carried on, the emotional steam I accumulated over the years finally venting. "When we buried you, we buried the Hope of all Sekirei with you! The Hope that we could do this without so much sacrifice!"

"Unlike you who gave up, we had to live on! We had to continue protecting our unaware kin from the dangers of Humanity! We had to find a new hope." I began calming down. "A new hope that would lead us through a path of blood, tears, darkness and great loss. A path that would end in the salvation of our kind."

I took a deep breath and took a stance, my swords glowing with power again.

"You know, Captain." I said with a tired voice, the emotional flash draining me. "I cannot allow you to ruin what we spent years to achieve. What we sacrificed ourselves to achieve."

"You spent years killing humans, not searching for a solution." Yume recovered from my rant and stared back at me with defiance. "Love will save us all!"

"Love…" I huffed with a sad smile. "We buried that Love with you, Captain."

"Flee, Uzume." I ordered to the Sekirei behind me and turned to face Yume once more. "Somehow, this is not how I imagined our long anticipated meeting to go on."

"You knew you were going to meet me?" Yume said incredulously. "How?"

"The path we chose, in no small part, because by following it we knew we'd meet once more, sooner or later." I explained, slowly channeling all of my left over power into my blades. "It just seems that the meeting happened before either one of us were ready."

"I will not make excuses." Yume admitted. "Had I a choice to go back, I would do it only to save Musubi again. I am sorry for leaving you and Karasuba but I will not yield in my decisions!"

"We know." I nodded sadly and raised my blades, finishing charging them. I could barely stand at this point from severe energy loss. "Gate:Random."

As I began executing the move, Yume blasted me with her light beam even as Tsukiumi grabbed Minato and leapt away. Ah, I forgot just how much Yume's beams hurt. In the half a second it took for me to finish Gate:Random and then activate it I had to bite my lip not to scream. The shreds of my haori and tabard were vaporized instantly and my armour began to heat up rapidly, burning me as it did. The moment I finished, I shifted into Soul Form and keeled over on my back, almost falling into the hole beside me, completely spent.

Yume, seeing that I escaped, made a face and dashed away even as the first tendrils crept out of the Rift. As I lay there, watching them run from the comparatively slow tendrils, the bridge shuddered once more and this time it began to collapse. It was a slow process, a section would fall here and another there but in the end, somehow, the god damned bridge held and only the middle part which lead out of the city collapsed into the murky depths of the river below. The collapsed section actually ended right beside me, causing me to lie on a sort of a small ledge that bravely approached nothingness.

The surviving MBI soldiers who were lucky enough to occupy the same section as I did, lived. The rest fell into the hungry waters below which swallowed everything that fell into them. Amusingly enough, as the beams fell, one of the beams speared into the concrete, passing through my middle. The reason it was funny, was because I was in Soul Form so it did absolutely nothing to me even though it looked like a mortal wound from the side. Ignoring this, I lay there, clenching my teeth, fighting the pain from the massive burn that spanned across the front of my body. I even closed my eyes to concentrate on suppressing it.

A bright light caused me to open my eyes in confusion, had Yume come back for something? I thought there was nothing left here to do, I destroyed the bridge and thus I won as I prevented them from leaving. To my surprise, it turned out to be Kazehana getting her wings as she straddled Minato. Huh, he just had several near-death experiences, lost Musubi and now just got another Sekirei? Oh never mind, Musubi was still around, I could easily tell that it was Musubi and not Yume. She must've went back to sleep and handed the controls back to Musubi. What an interesting process that was but it looks like it has consequences as Tsukiumi was currently holding Musubi up, the usually energetic girl completely still and only her eyes moved around in fascination as she looked at Kazehana's wings.

Oh well, none of this concerns me anymore, I did my part in destroying the bridge and prevented their…escape… I watched incredulously as Kazehana used her Norito – an ultimate ability we Sekirei get upon winging – to gently blow 2 Ashikabi-Sekirei pairs to the other side. Kuno desperately hanged onto her Ashikabi and Leiko's Ashikabi gently cradled his injured Sekirei to his chest, whispering soothing words to her even though I could clearly see how injured he was from my flames. Mai and her Ashikabi waved to them and then left the scene after bidding Minato and his Sekirei goodbye.

"Y-you are still alive?" I shifted my gaze to the pair I forgot about. Yukari was kneeling before me, staring at the beam 'impaling' my body to the bridge with wide eyes. Shiina stood behind her, watching me warily.

"I've had worse." I truthfully answered and grinned at the size of her eyes as they grew to truly anime style size.

"How?" She exclaimed, her eyes darting between my grinning face and the beam.

"Oh calm down," Kazehana said lazily as she and Minato approached me, Tsukiumi hanging in the back with Musubi on her shoulders. "Rei is in that other world of hers, this piece of metal did nothing to her."

"Ruining my fun are we?" I deadpanned as Yukari exhaled noisily in relief.

"Rei," Minato looked me in the eyes, determination narrowing his own eyes. He looked surprisingly manly for once, as he stared at me clutching his ribs, a thin trail of blood flowing from a wound on his forehead. "What just happened?"

"I lost." I answered nonchalantly, causing the guy to sigh in frustration. Obviously that was not the answer he was looking for.

"I mean, what happened to Musubi, who is this Yume person?" He tried again.

"Oh look, that cloud looks like a bird!" I shifted my gaze to the night sky above, the first stars just beginning to appear.

"…It's a cloudless night!" Tsukiumi exclaimed after looking skywards.

Damn it, I should think up of something else, every time I use this distraction, the sky ends up being damn cloudless.

"Tell me, who is Yume?" Minato pressed on.

"Tsk, can't you take a hint?" I rolled my eyes still staring at the sky, trying to ignore the agonizing pain. "Get lost, I am tired of the farce this incident has become."

"Minato we need to go." Kazehana glanced at the approaching MBI helicopters with worry. "MBI is almost here."

"Damn it Rei!" Minato cried out in desperation, the action causing him to wince as he clutched his ribs harder. "I need to know what is going on with Musubi!"

"She has 2 Tamas, one of which does not belong to her." I finally answered, my face stretching into a grin when he stared at me in confusion. "Now, go away you annoying human."

"Freeze!"

"Or not." I glanced past the group crowded around me to see a large party of MBI personnel approach us, guns at the ready. It was a very strong group with 7 MBI Specialists at the front in their dark red armour and a couple squads behind them, armed with LMGs ready to lay down suppressive fire. Of course, against a group containing Kazehana, Tsukiumi and Shiina they might as well walked in naked and completely unarmed for all the good they'd do.

"Surrender and I promise no harm will befall you." Takami walked to the front, a mega speaker in her hand, the MBI personnel giving way to the woman.

"Mom!?" Both Yukari and Minato exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh, I wondered what lousy, good for nothing Ashikabi were here." Takami took a second to take a pull on her cigarette. "But it turns out that it's my children."

"Laying it on a bit thick, mmm, Takami?" I laughed, wincing from the movement, attracting her attention.

"Rei?" She frowned, seeing my downed form. "Why are you just lying there?"

"I am kind of beaten up here doc." I remarked philosophically. "It's a bit difficult to do anything but lie down when you got no energy."

"Screw this crap, what the hell mom!?" Minato exploded, shuffling over to stand between his Sekirei and the MBI soldiers. "Why are you with MBI?"

"I work there." Takami raised an eyebrow at his behaviour.

"W-what!?" Minato choked and fell down, coughing as he clutched his ribs. Kazehana caught him before he hit the broken cement though.

"Look, we need to get you to a hospital so get your Sekirei to stand down already." Takami called out with worry in her voice. "I don't want to force this."

"Come on brother!" Yukari ran over to her sibling. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"Very…well." Minato raised his head feebly to look at Tsukiumi. "Let's go to…their…hospital…"

And with those words, he fell unconscious and pandemonium reigned. Minato's Sekirei, even the immobile Musubi riding Tsukiumi, crowded around him concern clear in their voices. Yukari was there with them even as Shiina continued to warily watch the situation, ready to do anything to defend his mistress, his arm still mangled with several makeshift blood soaked bandages stemming the blood flow. Takami hurried over to join the crowding and try to get her son to a helicopter for medical evacuation. The MBI soldiers moved in to secure the scene and recover what was recoverable. Quite a few grunts lost their dinner at the sight of the mangled corpses that got caught by Gate:Random or the destruction of the bridge. The few still living men were quickly retrieved and evacuated as the MBI squads continued to search.

As Takami led Minato, Yukari and their Sekirei onto the helicopter, I called out to her.

"Hey Takami! Send someone over to the other side to pick up Uzume."

Takami glanced back momentarily and nodded, pulling a small radio up to give the order.

"So…do I get a Medevac?" I slowly rolled through the beam and phased back into Living World, panting from exhaustion. The simple action drained what little energy I had recovered and now I couldn't as much as twitch anymore.

"It just arrived, Lady Rei." A duo of Specialists came to my aid and gently lifted me up, putting my arms over their broad shoulders. With a grunt, they lifted my armoured frame and made their way over to a helicopter, its blades rotating at a fast speed, clearly having just landed and ready for a take off again.

"So much destruction by unarmed women." The Specialist on my left, a Russian judging by the accent said softly, staring at the devastation around us. "Just what can men do against such power?"

"To be honest, it was me who destroyed the bridge." I admitted. "Once I realized that I could not win, I tried to stop them by removing the way they were going to flee by."

"Really?" The man stared at me in surprise.

"Yea, so you know we do in the face of such power Nikita?" The Hispanic on my right chuckled. "We ask an Arbiter to come."

We all laughed at this as we climbed into the helicopter which took off practically the moment my escort fastened me in. As we climbed higher, the lights of the city below us, I finally let the sleep take me, knowing that it was all over, for now.


	31. Gate:Winging

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>I was suspended in the comfortable darkness once more, resting as my thoughts lazily swam about. I lost. No matter what excuses I use, I lost. It doesn't matter that in a duel I am confident I'd win against any of them or that I gave as good as I got. Even before Yume awoke to completely smoke my sorry ass, I knew I lost and at that point I began trying to stop them rather than try and defeat them. The difference between those 2 words might not mean a lot to some, but it sure as hell meant a lot to me. The fact that Kara could take them all on and win wasn't helping my situation, I mean, Kara is the one I aspire to beat after all.<p>

"So how long are you going to sleep for?" Kara's displeased tone pulled at me from the depths of my slumber.

"Karasuba!" Another voice, this one the caring voice of Chiho joined in. "Rei suffered a lot of damage in that fight. Let her rest."

"You heard what Akitsu said," Kara waved aside Chiho's concerns even as I started to resurface from my dream. "Rei is completely fine, just sleeping. Wake up already!"

"You know," I opened my eyes to find myself on a hospital bed, Chiho sitting beside me and Kara leaning against the wall near the door. "I had this nice dream of you…me…and Akitsu."

I grinned as Kara's smile became one of those that most other people fled in terror from. Chiho blushed, lowered her eyes and began playing with my bed sheets. Speaking of which, I sat up and examined the small girl who sat beside me, completely healed. Well, I hope she's completely healed as I don't see a wheelchair anywhere and the hue of her skin looks far healthier than I've ever seen her. However, what surprised me is my body's reaction to her. It was definitely there and quite strong but it was nowhere near the overwhelming pull that threatened to render my bones jelly just by being near her. What happened?

"Akitsu said now that I am not dying, the flames of my soul don't draw you so strongly anymore." Chiho stated with a frown, clearly reciting from memory. "I don't get what that means though…"

Huh, that makes sense. I knew obliging Akitsu in her request to study the Spirit Realm was a good idea, I'd have never figured this out on my own. Although her observation implies that the Sekirei bond is a lot deeper than merely tying 2 bodies and minds together which might be troubling in the long run. As of now, we knew all Ashikabi who lost a Sekirei suffered mentally from it; the stronger the bond before breaking the harder the Ashikabi got hit from its breakage. According to Akitsu, out of the 7 Ashikabi who lost their Sekirei so far; 2 have committed suicide, 3 fell into a sleep from which they never woke up and only 2 recovered somewhat after falling into a deep depression.

If her hypothesis was true, then the reason I felt such a strong reaction to Chiho is because at the time, her failing body couldn't contain the flames of her soul and I, being a partially Spiritual entity, was drawn to that. I still had trouble coming to terms with Akitsu's conclusion that I was slowly turning into a spirit the longer I spent in the Spiritual Realm and the longer I spent in the Living Realm the more of a Living entity I was, what ever that meant. It seemed that my test of my limits where I spent a week as a spirit was particularly detrimental to my cause and Akitsu made me swear that the most I'll ever spend in the Spirit Realm would be 24 hours. Anyhow though, now that Chiho was healed, my reaction calmed down to that of a strong one but not particularly dangerous to me.

"How long was I out for?" I asked Kara.

"2 days, 3 nights." She answered casually. "It's the morning for the 3rd day after the Battle at the Bridge or so it's called on the Ashikabi forums."

"The what?" I stared at her incredulously, Chiho's curious look supporting mine.

"There is a forum hosted by MBI where Ashikabi can come and talk anonymously." Kara explained. "Haihane found it a while ago and occasionally sends me emails of interesting things she finds on it. Apperently there is even a video of the battle and I must say that I am quite impressed by the teamwork they showed in bringing you down. Makes me want to…meet them."

Judging by the way she said the final piece and the fact that she unconsciously slid her blade an inch out of its scabbard, I'd say that the meeting has all the chances of turning into a tragedy.

"I wouldn't mind meeting them either." Chiho's voice surprised us by the malice contained in it. "How dare they do this to my Rei."

Both Kara and I exchanged glances at this. While mine was a surprised one, I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that this sweet girl can feel hate at all, Kara's was a pleased one, she was quite happy that her Ashikabi had the same thoughts. Although I doubt Chiho would go as far as Kara, but details. What did matter though, is that seeing her become so fierce about my injuries and vengeful for my sake pulled at my heart, my pulse quickening as I felt my reaction increase.

Kara and Chiho both noticed my flushed face and the heavy breathing as I stared intently at Chiho. While Kara merely smiled, Chiho herself blushed heavily and hesitantly leaned closer to me, our faces now only inches apart.

"Do you want me Rei?" Chiho asked and then turned a deeper shade of red as she realized the innuendo behind her words. "I-I m-mean as a-an A-Ashi-"

Before she could finish stuttering I leaned forward and interrupted her with a gentle kiss, feeling ecstasy at the sudden relief my body felt at the touch of her lips. I couldn't help but compare Chiho to the 2 other women I kissed. Whereas Kara was simply passion incarnate and Akitsu's was like a cool, soothing drink after an exhausting day; Chiho's kiss reminded me of the black void I occasionally visited when in deep sleep or recuperating. The eternal emptiness where I felt completely at peace and safe, where my thoughts slowed down to a crawl and I just simply rested.

"I shall be your guide," Something from deep inside of me spoke as I broke away from Chiho who stared at me with wide eyes, my wings of pale blue fire erupting to encircle us. "Let us walk the path of eternity together, for ever."

I closed my eyes, feeling the calmness of the void sweep through my body and settle in my Tama. It was as if I now had a hole or rather a gate in my Tama that allowed me to feel Chiho through it. Emotions that were not my own began leaking through it, allowing me understand what Chiho felt right now. It happened to be mostly wonder with quite a bit of embracement with a little satisfaction on the side. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel my Ashikabi just by tracing the bond that connected my Tama to her. It was as if I could now see a star that was my Ashikabi.

It felt…nice. It was kind of the same feeling Archive gave me, just a lot more feeling and less thought. With Archive, it was mostly thoughts and images with faint emotion attached. Chiho on the other hand was diametrically opposite. I could barely hear her thoughts, it took me all of my skills learned from communicating with Archive to even hear faint whispers of her thoughts, yet I could feel her emotions as bright as the midday sun on a cloudless day. In fact, I decided against trying to hear what she was thinking as it was rapidly giving me a headache just to hear the little I could.

"So now I have a Shroud, a Sword, a Guide, Wraith and Final Mercy." Chiho mused as she watched the pale blue fire of my wings slowly fade away. "I think I am set for anything and everything."

"Shroud huh?" I whispered to myself. "Yea, that fits Uzume. Now, onto more important things."

"Wha-mmm." Chiho moaned as I pulled her closer and kissed her passionately as Kara watched with amusement. Chiho waved her arms around a bit and then suddenly embraced my back and started to kiss me back even if hesitantly.

"I see you fully recovered Rei." We broke apart to see a grinning Takami with Akitsu standing behind her, a faint smile on her lips.

"Congratulations on your wings." Akitsu said softly.

"Yes, congratulations. Now, Karasuba, next time you choose to spar with Akitsu please don't do it right outside the damn Tower." Takami turned to Kara, frustration on her face. "Why the hell did you attack her yesterday anyway?"

""Well, who else?" Kara stretched against the wall with a grin. "I felt the need to have a bit of relief and Rei was recovering, who else would I turn to? It's your fault that you forbid me from killing those pathetic weaklings outside before the Third Stage."

Takami sighed and averted her eyes from the shamelessly grinning Kara.

"Speaking of which," Kara drew attention to herself. "Now that Rei has her wings, we should go do that mission."

"Are you sure?" Takami looked up sharply. "We need you here, without the Arbiters the city will be torn apart."

"Minaka said its fine." Kara answered and then her smile dipped as she turned serious. "He said that he has something planned to occupy the Ashikabi with so do keep your eyes open."

"Did he say what?" Takami lit a cigarette with a disappointed expression. "No, of course he didn't. Very well, Akitsu and I will keep an eye out so you guys go and 'get closer'."  
>She finished the sentence with a demonic grin that seemed to have way too many sharp pointy teeth in it to be human. Chiho squeaked in fear and hid her face on my chest as I pulled her close with one hand, my other reaching for my sword. Except, because I happened to be naked under the sheets, it didn't find anything there.<p>

"Ho, I see you are quite keen on starting right now." Takami laughed and I relaxed, wondering what the hell that was just now. Even Kara watched her warily after this show and only Akitsu stood there like nothing happened, her tranquil face not moving a single muscle.

"Say Takami," I paused as red Chiho pulled away. "What happened to Musubi and Yume?"

"Tch, everyone wants the answer to that question." Takami grabbed a chair and sat down opposing my bed, Akitsu sitting on an empty bed nearby. "Minaka, my children and now you."

"I trust you said nothing to your whelps?" Kara looked at Takami, her eyes narrowed to a slit.

"Who the hell do you take me for?" Takami leaned back on the chair as she looked back in challenge. "Of course I gave them a bunch of made up bullshit."

"According to our scans," Akitsu took over, her soft, calm voice making us all listen. "Yume's Tama is slowly drifting apart from Musubi's Tama. From our estimates and calculations, we speculate that during the fight the 2 Tamas merged briefly and now Yume's is pulling back to its original position."

"Indeed." Takami pulled her tablet out of nowhere. "Tell me your side Rei, I've talked to everyone involved from Uzume to Minato and Musubi but perhaps you got something that they missed."

"Alright," I nodded and closed my eyes, recalling the scene. "I was standing several meters away, Uzume behind me. I just finished using Gate:Random in an attempt to destroy the bridge and during the event, Musubi pushed Minato out of the way of a metal beam that was falling on him. She took the beam for him and stopped moving, I believe she might've deactivated from the impact."

"So far that fits what everyone else said." Akitsu calmly said. "Musubi did in fact deactivate, the MBI sensors noticed it and Minato confirmed that her mark disappeared."

"Yes," I nodded. "However, a short while later, maybe a minute or so, a bright flash of light erupted from her and suddenly, in her place now stood Yume."

At this point I paused, a pang of pain going through my heart.

"What happened." Kara pushed herself from the wall and made her way to my bed, staring at me intently.

"We had an…argument." I looked away. "She…I just vented on her Kara. All the pain and suffering we felt from her decision."

"Not the best way to meet our captain coming back from a vacation that lasted for a couple years, mm?" Kara's tone may have been carefree but when I looked up I could see that she wasn't very happy. "What did she say?"

"She said that if she had a chance to redo, to go back," I swallowed hard. "She'd do it again without hesitation."

"Of course she would." Kara clenched her scabbard to the point that the wood started to squeak slightly. "It is Yume after all."

"What happened next?" Takami pulled on her cigarette, motioning for me to continue.

"Then I used another Gate:Random to finish destroying the bridge and Yume blasted me with her beam." I looked down at my bandaged torso with a grimace. At least I didn't feel any of the pain anymore and thanks to our regeneration, it won't leave any scars either.

"You used Gate:Random twice?" Akitsu tilted her head slightly, surprise on her face.

"Yes, it didn't go down with the first one." I nodded.

"So that's where you got your injuries from." Kara gently traced her hand down my bandaged chest. "Yes, Yume's light hurts, doesn't it?"

"It always had." I reflected truthfully.

"Right, well, this information doesn't really change anything." Takami sighed as her fingers danced on her tablet before getting up. "Well, I have things to do like prepare for you dumping this entire city on my shoulders."

"Don't worry," I grinned. "We'll be sure to take our time so you could partake in all of the pleasures our position entitled.

"Ass." Takami tossed over her shoulders as she walked out. Akitsu on the other hand walked over to me in that slow, gentle stride of hers and then kissed me sensually, not caring about Chiho who went red again or Kara's hand twitching for her blade.

"Don't make me worry again." The ice Sekirei whispered to me after breaking the kiss and then before I could muster my thoughts, completely wiped out by the sudden kiss, she was gone.

"I think it's about to time we go and get ready for our mission." Kara leaned back and grabbed a bundle that lay on the ground by the door where she stood, choosing to ignore what just happened. "Here, dress up and let's go. We got much to do."

I dressed up quickly sighing at the new armour. Of course Yume would total my armour with a single ray, she did it constantly when she was still alive and we trained too. I also felt a little disappointed despite myself when Chiho turned around with a blush and stared at a wall. I happened to be proud of my body, perhaps it wasn't quite as curvy as say Haihane, Uzume or Akitsu but I've received no complaints about it from Kara or Akitsu. I decided against doing anything about it though, judging by the interest I could read from Chiho it was more of a matter of morals rather than the fact that she didn't like me. I could actually feel a little red creep into my cheeks as I focused on her emotions and just how 'much' she liked what she saw before turning around. Kara smiled knowingly at this, her eyes roaming about my body shamelessly as I dressed.

"Not going to put on that mask of yours?" She asked when I stood up, ready. Chiho turned around at this and I could feel a bit of wonder at my mask less face.

"There is no point to anymore." I smiled happily, although I liked the mask it got in the way so much that it wasn't even funny. "I used it to prevent a random winging. Now that I have my True Ashikabi, there is no need for a mask."

Chiho smiled at this even as Kara nodded in acceptance, my answer making perfect sense for her. Now that I think of it, she never did ask why I wore my mask; she merely acknowledged it and carried on. I looked at my mask which served me faithfully for these years, lying on the bed behind me, and nodded in finality. I would have no need of it anymore, for ever and ever.


	32. Gate:Preparation

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Warning: My muse has something I like to call the Delirium Generator (Ru: Бредогенератор) and she occasionally brings it out. Why, this small arc carried on further then I expected and some of the things my muse presented to me made me go 'WTF!? Really!?'. Still, I have no choice but trust that she knows what she's doing, I am merely here to write everything she comes up with.

Note: Anyone else saw how the roads around Washington make it look like Amestris from Full Metal Alchemist? Coincidence or Illuminati shenanigans? I actually had to keep my muse back and ask her to focus on current story as she suddenly had this great idea for a FMA and Real World crossover...it would make sense why most major cities are a circle.

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><p>"…You must be joking." I summed up our reaction when Elizabeth told us where we were going and what our mission was. We were currently on a 12 hour flight to Washington, USA and Elizabeth was coming with us. She stated that due to mission importance, we wouldn't be told what it is or where we were going until we actually boarded the MBI plane. We were a bit surprised to have Elizabeth herself come with us but considering the mission I guess it makes sense.<p>

I've never actually wondered why the world was content with letting Minaka do whatever the hell he wanted. I kind of figured that after the disasters that the 1st and 2nd Kamikura Invasions humanity just sucked it up and ignored us. That was rather dumb of me; I should've figured that humans in power don't particularly care about those who die under their command. I mean, I've seen it so many times where governments just send 1 Black Ops squad after another in a vain attempt to chip at MBI.

Anyhow, according to Elizabeth there were a bunch of shady deals in play that she refused to share with us that balanced the whole system in a precarious balance where they don't really attack us and in return we don't come over and destroy them. Apparently, we were en route to remind the president of USA that double crossing us on the deals wasn't in his best interest. When Haihane asked just what did he do, Elizabeth caught our attention by stating that USA Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, was one of the organisers of Second Kamikura Invasion. They covered their traces well and it was only through much digging and great loss of both agents and resources that MBI ID uncovered their involvement. According to Minaka, this sealed their fate.

So, we were on our way to raze the CIA Headquarters to the ground.

"Doesn't Minaka realize that after this USA will have to declare war on us?" I facepalmed at the idea. "I mean, he can't expect them to just do nothing after we destroy their Headquarters."

"This is where the system I mentioned earlier comes into play." Elizabeth smiled. "USA will be forced to suck it up and find a scapegoat for this ordeal, probably some more of these never-ending 'terrorists' they keep finding. Otherwise the other countries will be forced to step in on our side and suddenly, USA will find itself in World War 3."

"…Minaka is going hardball on this huh." I scratched my cheek, realizing what this meant. Beni and Haihane looked confused while Kara pouted. Of course she'd be sad at the prospect of World War 3 not going off. Chiho on the other hand looked horrified with the scenario.

"But, do we have to do this?" Chiho asked hesitantly. "Can't we just warn them or something?"

"Chiho." I sighed. "These guys sent more than a thousand men and a fleet on a suicide mission for a small chance that they might recover something useful. Thanks to them, not only did about 2 thousand people died, but they also tortured 2 Sekirei nearly to death and thanks to them Yume, the captain of the Disciplinary Squad at the time, died."

"Yume?" Chiho frowned. "The same one that almost killed you several days ago?"

"Well, she didn't quite do that much damage," I averted my eyes under Chiho's accusing glare. "But yes."

"You are focusing on the wrong thing here, Chiho." Elizabeth chided the small girl gently. "The important thing is that according to MBI ID the CIA had run up to 100 Black Ops operations and traitor recruitment over the past 7 years. They are directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people and if we don't stop them, they'd kill a hundred times that."

"You are the Ashikabi of the Disciplinary Squad." Kara added with a thin smile on her face. "We destroy any and all threats to our kind. The CIA has attacked us and they will all die for this, there is no alternative in this world."

"Yea…" Beni sighed sadly. "That's just how this world works, Lady Ashikabi. If we don't stop them, then who will? No one but us, that is pretty much the credo of this squad."

"Don't worry, baby," Uzume leaned over from her seat and hugged Chiho. "We'll take care of the bad guys."

"R-right." Chiho blushed as Uzume's hands began to wander. "N-not here Uzume!"

"Why, we are all your Sekirei here." Uzume smiled widely, a faint blush of her own coming on. "And it's a very long flight."

"Eager to get yourself banned off of MBI planes too, Uzume?" Elizabeth smiled dangerously.

"Right, stopping." Uzume retreated, the fight obviously won by Elizabeth whose smile turned victorious.

"You just had to ruin it Elizabeth." Haihane sighed disappointedly, putting a small camera away.

"What?" She asked when we all stared at her. "I might as well film the pornography going on, instead of downloading it from the internet. It makes total sense, right?"

Four blank looks and 2 flustered ones were the response to her outrageous statement. After glancing about we all decided to ignore the random event and carry on even as Haihane schooled her features to resemble perfect innocence.

"So we walk in, destroy everything and then leave?" Beni decided to get the conversation back on track.

"No." Elizabeth reached for the large bag that rested below her feet and dragged it closer to herself. "Although the absolute minimum of this mission is for us to destroy CIA Headquarters and kill as many agents of their as we can, it is by far the least of our concerns."

"Oh?" Kara leaned in slightly, eager to hear more. "Do tell."

"Your mission is to get me into the CIA Archives and destroy any and all opposition." Elizabeth stated as she pulled out a Specialist uniform from the bag. Gods damn it, I just knew that Elizabeth was abnormal. "I will search through the Archives to find any information available of their accomplishments and accomplices concerning Sekirei and then we are to destroy the facility. Of course, depending on just what I find, the mission will change accordingly."

"What do you mean?" Chiho asked, her brow narrowed.

"Minaka had insisted that if I were to find the location of their research labs where they study whatever they got from us that we destroy them." Elizabeth answered as she stood up and began putting on the Specialist uniform. Apparently, it was heavily modified and now resembled power armour than anything else.

"…Is that power armour?" Haihane actually stood up and approached Elizabeth, staring at the armour she was putting on piece by piece.

"Yes, it is a heavily modified version of Rei's armour," Was the response. "Except that this one could be worn by humans without monstrous strength."

"Eh?" I tilted my head, confused. "What do you mean monstrous?"

"Rei, I am sorry to tell you," Kara smirked. "But humans, unlike us, happen to be quite weak and finding someone who can run around and jump in solid plate armour that weighs a good third of their total weight is difficult."

"Indeed." Elizabeth nodded as she finished fitting the chest piece and the whole thing came to life, lines suddenly began to glow and the suit began to tighten itself, fitting to be exactly its host's form. "This little beauty is a prototype Takami asked me to test out in the field once she knew where we were going."

"But why are you putting it on now?" Beni asked with a frown. "Are we going to be fighting right as we get off?"

"Pretty much." Elizabeth nodded as she put on a solid helmet and the visor began to glow a soft teal. "We know the CIA. Underestimating them would lead to the failure of this mission. The ID expects that if we are to land normally, then within 15 minutes the nearest army divisions will be scrambled and set against us. So, we are going to parachute down straight onto the Headquarters after hitting it with an EMP to counter any anti-air defences they have."

"Okay, so we got a way in." I nodded. "How about a way out? We might be able to get in and do the mission but I doubt that those army divisions you mentioned will be so keen on lettings us out."

"We storm through whatever resistance we meet and then, once we break free, we will be picked up by an MBI stealth drop ship." A silence met her words. "Any questions?"

"Yea, just one." I asked in a deadpan. "Since when has this become Sci-fi?"

"Since about 20 years ago when Minaka found your ship." Elizabeth answered nonchalantly.

"Irrelevant." Kara turned to Chiho. "Chiho. As our Ashikabi, you are going to command us in battle and destroy our enemies using us. Remember, that you also need to assign protection for both yourself and the VIP who happens to be Elizabeth."

"E-eh?" Our poor Ashikabi suddenly looked very lost.

"However, because this is your first time," Kara rolled her eyes. "I'll guide you through it. Pay attention and listen very carefully because in the future, you will be commanding us and any mistake will result in either failure or death. Do you understand?"

Chiho nodded, intent on committing everything Kara said to memory, it was clear that she didn't want to fail us. We all smiled at this even as Kara turned to face us all with Chiho.

"This is your current team composition, what you will be working with." Kara gestured at us. "We have Benitsubasa who is our Siege unit. If you need a blast door opened, a fortification destroyed or anything like that, she is the one you will command to do it."

Seeing that her charge was nodding while paying utmost attention, Kara continued on.

"Next we have Haihane." At this Haihane waved cheerfully. "Although she can be used effectively against both soldiers and vehicles, in our squad she takes on the role of destroying enemy armour. So tanks, armoured personnel carriers and the likes."

"Then there is Uzume." Kara sighed at number 10 who looked apprehensive. "So far, due to lack of training, she is to be used as Support and defence. That means that if you got someone who needs protections, like yourself or the VIP, she is the one you assign to keep them safe. Good so far?"

"Yes." Chiho nodded, her eyes surveying us.

"My lieutenant, Rei," Kara gestured at me as I nodded in acceptance. "Can be assigned 3 roles, any of which she will do excellently. She can be the vanguard, the one who charges in first and scouts via combat. She can be a protector, again defending you or VIPs. And finally she can be an assassin, if you want to kill your target fast and relatively easily."

"Finally, there is me." Kara's grin widened. "I am particularly good against infantry although I can destroy anything that meets my sword. I can also protect although not as well as Uzume or Rei."

"So, Benitsubasa to destroy fortifications, Haihane is good against armour, Uzume is a protector, Rei is advance guard and you are anti-infantry?" Chiho summed it up, thought evident on her face. "So, in this we'd have Benitsubasa destroy any defences that they have and then she and Haihane will secure the area while the rest of us go in?"

"It's good to see you do the homework I assigned you." Kara smiled truly at Chiho while the rest of us stared, unable to figure out how Chiho knows enough to formulate a strategy even as basic as this one. "Not bad, although in this case Haihane could easily be replaced with me. But yes, 2 should secure the area and pick off any escapees while 2 more proceed to clean the complex while the final Sekirei should go with Elizabeth to those Archives. Now, who is who in this case?"

"Umm…" Chiho looked at us, concentrating. "Benitsubasa and Haihane outside, just in case they bring vehicles. Karasuba will attack whoever is in the building while Uzume and I follow her. It would be best for Rei to go with Elizabeth so that she can open the defences from inside and save us time."

"Any concerns or questions?" Kara's pleased grin threatened to cut her face in 2 as she looked at us.

"Well done Chiho." Elizabeth nodded in acknowledgement. "I see you will become a great Ashikabi and Leader of the Disciplinary Squad."

"Hey Kara, if you had her learn tactics and you just did this speech about or general roles…" I scratched the back of my head in thought. "Did you tell Chiho about our abilities? Like my gates, Beni's shockwaves, Haihane's air abilities…"

Kara opened her mouth, then frowned, then closed her mouth and looked away. I dipped my head as I pinched the bridge of nose. That would be a no then.

"Eh? I haven't heard of this." Chiho looked at us in confusion. "What gates? Haihane can do elemental abilities? I thought your ability was ghost form Rei…"

"Mmm…perhaps it would be best if we all did a small introduction then?" I sighed. "Something we really should've done weeks ago but hey, it's not quite too late yet…"

"I'll start then." Haihane nodded in acceptance. "My ability is air-based self enhancement. Making my body lighter, making my claws sharper by wrapping them with air, a shield of sorts. Those kinds of things."

"That's so cool!" Chiho looked at Haihane. "Can you fly?"  
>"N-…" Haihane paused and thought hard. "Maybe."<p>

Now we all looked at her with great intent. Having a flier on our team would be an incredible boon.

"Once we get back," Kara looked at her apprentice with a sadistic smile from which Haihane paled to be the color of her gray hair. "You are going to learn how to fly."

"Yes, teacher." Haihane sighed sadly in defeat, knowing better then to argue with Kara.

"Beni, you're up." I nodded at my apprentice.

"Right, I make shockwaves." Beni stood up and slammed her fists together unleashing a small red blast wave that traveled only about 10 centimetres before dissipating. "Using said shockwaves I can channel my power to do a variety of things, from amplifying the destructive capacity of the shockwave a hundred fold to warping it as a shield around myself. My shockwaves have very little range in air but can go up to 50 meters through the ground if I focus hard enough. I can also stack my shockwaves giving my abilities new properties but in order to do so I'll have to make a new shockwave per property."

"How far does your amplification go up to?" Chiho asked with wonder in her eyes.

"Theoretically, to infinity." Beni then coughed and continued. "But the concentration required to keep the shockwave without unleashing it goes up geometrically. So the most I can do is 4 shockwaves which is still enough to level a skyscraper."

"Ah, good times." I smiled at the memory. We both had a very bad day that time and instead of going up 50 or so floors we just leveled the entire building and left. Fastest mission ever.

"W-wait…" Uzume looked up from hugging Chiho to stare at Beni. "You destroyed a skyscraper!?"

"What?" Beni looked at her with a haughty aura. "The Director gave me the title Siege Sekirei for a reason."

"In-sane…" Uzume whispered loudly, her eyes wide.

"Speaking of which, we might as well have you go Uzume." Kara looked at the scantily clad Sekirei in amusement. "For the sake of Benitsubasa and Haihane really."

"Right." Uzume shook herself a bit to pull herself together. "I can materialize my power as strands of silk, any amount I wish but it takes time and I can only control 6 at any given instant. So I generally put them into groups or ribbons and control them like that. A single strand is enough to withstand a low caliber bullet and if I layer them then even Sekirei abilities cannot get all the way through."

"Unless you get overpowered." I grinned, glancing at Kara who sported the same grin.

"Monsters don't count." Uzume pouted at us. "You guys are crazy strong."

"Uzume!" Chiho cried out even as we snickered. "Apologize, Kara and Rei aren't monsters! They are family."

"Umm, right." Uzume looked down, properly chastened even as we stopped laughing our thoughts turning somber. Family… "Sorry guys, you're not real monsters. Just monstrously strong!"

And just like that the mood once again lightened up as we all laughed this time even Elizabeth who was watching us from her corner joined in.

"Rei, so what's your power?" Chiho looked at me with great curiosity. "I saw you turn into a ghost, is that your power?"

"It's not really a ghost and no that's not really my power." I mused. "My power is to open Gates between the Spirit Realm and the Living Realm. By default, the 2 realms are completely separate and what is in one cannot be touched by another. However, because I am originally a Living being, when I go into the Spirit Realm via my gates I am still alive, just with a layer of Spirit Realm overlaid. So you can see me, you can hear me but you cannot touch me."

"That's…confusing." Chiho frowned in a cute manner, making Uzume hug the living daylights of her. "U-Uzume! Air!"

"What you need to know about my abilities for now," I told the girl who greedily gulped air. "Is that I can turn intangible at will and I can take others with me. My main source of attack is actually taking whatever my sword slices into the Spirit Realm. Due to the nature of Gate:Open, as that ability is called, it cannot be blocked or parried in anyway, only dodged."

"This makes Rei the ultimate assassin." Elizabeth called out from her corner. "There is no armour, no shields, nothing that can protect you against her."

"Well, there is one thing…" I looked at Kara who smirked. "Sheer skill can counter me very well."

"Yes, because opponents of Teacher's level are common." Haihane deadpanned.

"Right," Chiho finished thinking and looked at Kara. "So, what is your power? I only know that you are very strong but I don't know why or what makes you so strong."

"I am very much like Haihane in power type." Kara admitted freely. "I am a self-enhancement type but unlike Haihane I don't have an elemental affinity to go with it. It is pure self-enhancement."

"So what Kara means is that she can use her power to amplify any of her body's characteristics like speed, reflexes, strength and so on." I explained it further to our quiet Ashikabi. "As far as I know she can also unleash her power in a very short distance around her body or through her blade or clothes. Anything else you want to add?"

"Nope, I think that should do for now." Kara stated simply. "Still, the original plan stands."

"So it does." I nodded in acceptance. "Although instead of having me unlock the doors and what not, why not just walk through them with Elizabeth?"

"Yes…" Chiho turned to me. "That sounds even better."

"So the plan is set, introductions are over?" Elizabeth glanced between us all as we replied in affirmative. "Good, now, let's put the parachutes on you and run you through the works…"


	33. Gate:Drop

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>The drop itself wasn't bad honestly. Everything went according the plan: we detonated the EMP and then jumped out of the plane after Elizabeth. Just in case, we had Uzume strap herself to Chiho's back so that she could keep her safe. Elizabeth's explanation of the theory behind parachutes was enough for Uzume to create her own variant if the original failed.<p>

Elizabeth's comment that the thing only very rarely fails was enough for us to tie the very willing Veil Sekirei to our embarrassed Ashikabi. As things stood, if our parachutes didn't open we all had a good chance of survival, Elizabeth excluded. Haihane could use her wind enhancements to slow herself down, Beni had a decent chance of survival using her Shock Shields and Kara will use that aura of hers to avoid becoming a red stain several dozen meters in diameter. Of course, they'd all need medical attention afterwards but I was certain they'd live.

I had my Gates of course. The Spirit Realm had one curious property I noted. The ground had resistance and the deeper I go the more resistance grows until I can't phase deeper anymore. It was one of the many experiments Akitsu put me through when we experimented with the Spirit Realm. Gods, that was one terrifying leap of faith off the MBI Tower…

That particular property isn't really useful except for situations like this. Unless there is somewhere else it can be used and I just don't know it yet. Regardless, the gradual resistance would stop me gently but getting back out would be a bitch…

The reason I was angry with the drop was that in the end, it was all a bunch of pointless precautions that only stressed our Ashikabi for no reason. Granted, we weren't shot out of the sky as we glided down, the terror our Ashikabi feeling leaking through the bond, but the moment we landed an entire army of Armoured Personnel Carriers, tanks, helicopters and infantry showed up out of nowhere. After surrounding us they tried to call for our surrender but we simply charged them, not even bothering to listen.

Leaving Uzume to defend Chiho and Elizabeth, we all charged the surrounding forces in random directions, not bothering to partner up. Even as Beni sprinted heavily with an angry red cocoon of Shock Charge building up, Haihane already leapt off the roof we landed on and hit a tank, her wind enhanced claws shredding the tank's turret right off. Similar story with me and Kara, much like my disciple, I was fairly slow. It didn't matter to me though as I charged my foe in Spirit Form, their attempts to stop me growing more desperate with each bullet and shell that went right through my intangible form. However, before I even reached my foes, Kara was already thick in their ranks, body parts, blood and death wails surrounding her in a hellish parody of a hurricane.

The moment I was in range I shifted into the Living Realm and spun on the spot, unleashing a Gate:Nova to add a little bit of chaos. The nearest soldiers who stood maybe 3 or so meters away didn't even have a chance to scream before blue flame washed over them leaving only white hot metal and bones behind in places they got hit. It was rather freaky to see a soldier with his chest turned into a charred skeleton while the rest of him was completely fine. Or that officer over there whose head was now a blackened skull grinning from the top of his completely normal body.

However, it rapidly lost in power as distance and diameter increased. Even though it killed everything in a 10 meter diameter around me, by the 11th meter it was only lighting the soldiers on fire and burning them horribly rather than searing their flesh right off their bones. The nearby tank also suffered, the closeby armour glowing a bright white that slowly transitioned to yellow and red as the distance grew. A second later, the fuel inside exploded and set off the ammo rack inside, turning the tank into a giant shrapnel grenade that turned nearby men into finely minced meat. I even had to phase into the Spirit Realm to evade that.

Having accomplished the distraction, a lot less bullets and shells were going my way now, the attackers that still lived backed away in fear. I dashed forward to another tank, once more in the Living Realm, and hacked off its cannon before slashing at the turret, my Gate:Open destroying the turning mechanism inside.

Unlike Haihane who could extend her range via wind claws and shred the tank whole, I had no real way of destroying big armoured targets quickly without using abilities like Gate:Random or Gate:Nova. So instead I disabled them, my Gate:Open ignoring the armour and destroying the mechanisms behind it. This tank for instance now cannot shoot nor turn its turret to face its heavy machine gun at me. After slicing off the tracks, it was now an effective monument as it could literally do nothing else.

Truthfully, it took longer to describe what happened. In reality it was literally 3 quick slashes – about a second of time – and I'd move onto the next target, the disabled tank forgotten. I was only fighting for maybe 5 or so seconds when the ground shook violently and a gigantic dust cloud, much like the fabled mushroom of a nuclear strike, rose into the sky to the east. It would seem that Beni reached her targets, I thought as I took the advantage and finished off several soldiers who were swept off their feet by the disturbance. I doubt anything survived the Zero Ground of her Shock Charge converted into a Pulverize.

The men around me wavered and broke, fleeing in terror from 'monster' and 'demon'. It would seem that these men were sent in without being told what they'd face. We Sekirei have a tendency of being very hard on the morale of our enemies. Very few unprepared men could watch us tear their brothers in arms to pieces and stand their ground, shooting at us in a faint hope that a bullet would pierce out defences. Of all the missions I've ever been on, only prepared Black Operatives stood their ground to the last man, fighting to the bitter end.

It must be hard, I thought as I slashed an APC, rending the cabin into 2, to fight against someone that you can do absolutely nothing to and that your best attempts don't even make them pause. Oh wait, I do this every morning against Kara. Beni, Haihane and Uzume do this regularly as well in their sessions against us. So I can safely assume that the lot running in panic before me were all cowards.

I brought up my sword sharply, the blade blocking a bullet from my right. Turning, I saw an officer, a lieutenant judging by the bloody clothing, his right hand struggling to put me in the pistol's sights even as his blood gushed out of his left shoulder, his arm cloven off. I walked over to the man slowly, taking my time to examine what was once a handsome young Hispanic face, now twisted in pain and agony.

Before I reached him I had to block 2 more bullets from his shaky pistol, both aimed at my face. Seems like this man realized that shooting at my armour was pointless. Smart, but I guess that's the reason why he's an officer in the first place. Just as I raised my blade, staring into his defiant eyes, preparing to end his agony I had to quickly phase into the Spirit Realm.

The ground around us erupted in rent earth and bloody tatters of what used to be my enemy. I ignored the helicopters unleashing hell at me in favour of watching as the officer's soul orb rose up from where he used to be, it's flame far brighter than anything I've seen before. I watched as the flame contorted and tried to shape itself into the image of the man but after a second, it flickered back into a normal flame, it's light exactly the same as the rest.

That was interesting, it was if the soul tried to become an apparition or a spectre but failed. Makes me wonder what would happen if I were to experiment with this; could I perhaps make a wraith out of someone?

Before I could think on this further, I was distracted by a white lance that flew across the cloudy sky and speared on the helicopters unloading all it had at me. The helicopter's blades spluttered smoke and died, the chopper going down hard as the spear destroyed something important inside.

Turning to the direction where the spear came from I felt my jaw drop from surprise. Uzume stood on the roof, her veils forming another massive spear-like arrow as she drew an equally gigantic white bow about twice her size created out of her veils. As the helicopters stopped firing at me and began to turn to face the new threat, I saw Uzume release her projectile and, with a loud clap, it flashed across the sky to pierce through the bulletproof windshield and disappear in the depths of the helicopter. I could see the pilot slump, letting go of the controls as the helicopter began to spin to its doom, a giant hole where his chest used to be. What the hell, since when can Uzume shoot spears that break sound barriers? Scratch that, since when can Uzume craft a bow out of her veils?

Before the helicopters could finish turning and take aim at their assailant, Uzume shot 2 more spears: one downing its target by killing the pilot while another hit something inside the chopper it struck and turned it into a magnificent fireball. The last helicopter abandoned mission and tried to pull out sharply only to receive a spear through its tail rotor and smash into the building hard. By that point I, having ensured no living targets remained in my zone, reached Uzume and shifted into Living Realm still staring at the white archer incredulously. The woman in question grinned at my expression and turned to other areas taken by the rest of the team.

Unlike me though, the rest of the Disciplinary Squad all had ways of dealing low – relatively speaking – flying targets. Whereas I ignored the air assault by going intangible, resulting in a frustrated draw, my team actually took down their share of assault helicopters.

Beni was particularly efficient at this and was actually our designated anti-air. Beni would rip out a chunk of concrete, cement, rocks or just ground in general and then smash it towards her target with a stacked Shockwave. The result was a cloud of debris that flew at several times the speed of sound at its target in a shotgun like manner. After being hit by something like that, most of the attacking choppers turned into shredded metal and exploded in mid-air.

Beni was also our only way of dealing with jets and low flying fighter-bombers. Due to the amount of projectiles she puts into the air, more often than not the jet in question is forced to disengage and flee or get shredded.

Compared to Beni's massive shotgun-like ability of doom, Kara's and Haihane's ways of dealing with their air targets was quite tame. Haihane would use her wind enhancement to lighten herself, jump high into the air and then glide towards her target, her claws acting like a parody of wings. Once she reaches the helicopter in question, one swing is generally enough to rip the chopper apart in mid-air. She avoided destroying them in an explosive manner though as the shockwave would generally knock her out of the air prematurely. Due to her wind enhancements, she had enough agility in the air to dodge most return fire and whatever hit her would only knock her away as the wind shield would protect her from full damage.

For the longest time, Kara didn't have any ranged attacks and would be forced to hang out with me in Spirit Realm as we got away. Eventually though, her frustration with this escalated to such degree that she sat down and created a new ability to use with her sword. It was a fairly crude and inefficient thing but it got the job done more often than not.

Kara claimed inspiration from number 01 was what resulted in this ability. Of course, she wasn't quite happy by this. Regardless, Kara would channel her power through the sword and swing with such force that the strike would carry through the air and hit her target.

Kara's Distant Blade technique was nowhere close to Miya's abilities or so Kara told me bitterly. Apparently, during the First Kamikura Invasion, Miya sliced battleships apart several kilometers from the beach with only one stroke each. Kara's ability could only reliably slice her target up to 50 meters away, forcing her often to jump high and then execute Distant Blade to take down the assaulting helicopters.

In fact, Uzume had to help her finish the last 2 choppers who figured out that she had a range limit from watching her destroy the other 6 and flew above it. Sadly for them, Uzume's arrows had far superior range then Kara's ability and took them down with ease.

By this time, Haihane and Beni finished with their targets. Although Beni finished first by far, by the time she climbed up the building to join us, Haihane glided over and landed gracefully before Chiho. Beni and I stood waiting for Kara as we ignored Haihane and Chiho debate whether or not Haihane's glide counts as flying in favour at staring at Uzume's great bow. The white, 3 meter tall thing that stood nearly twice the size of its wielder was strangely familiar. In fact, now that I look closer, it looks practically like one of Uzume's lances just slightly bent by a taut silk thread that connected the 2 ends.

"Explain." Kara ordered in good spirits from the fight.

"Well, you designated me as support right?" Uzume shrugged. "And then you told me to develop something against air because my threads had practically no range. At first I though to just throw my spears but then I remembered that Ashikabi on the bridge who supported his Sekirei with a bow. So, there you have it."

"Are you really using one of your lances to shoot other, smaller spears?" I asked incredulously.

"I see no problem." Uzume shrugged.

"And neither do I. Uzume is now useful as she can do more then babysit duty." Ignoring Uzume's fake cry of outrage, Kara turned to Chiho and Haihane who walked over, their debate done. "Are you alright, Chiho?"

"Yes." Chiho nodded firmly, her expression growing steely. "We should keep going. The quicker we do this the faster we'll leave, right?"

"Indeed." Elizabeth walked up silently, finished surveying the battleground. "Your orders?"

"Haihane and Benitsubasa are on patrol duty. We are going to jump down and walk in through the front door." Kara caressed her blade lovingly.

"Of course." I sighed and drew my blades once more.


	34. Gate:Archive

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"This wasn't the best idea!" I called to Kara as my blades knocked bullets out of the air, protecting Elizabeth who was firing at the CIA Operatives around us with a rifle that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie.<p>

"It's fine!" Kara called out as she dashed all over the place, slaying one man after another, their Kevlar armour doing absolutely nothing against her blade. "We always go through the front door!"

"Watch out!" Uzume grabbed Chiho who cowered behind her and jumped away, a rocket whistling by to smash into the wall several meters further, smashing it into rubble and shaking the whole building. "What the hell!?"

"Hi, this is Haihane," Haihane's voice, overlaid with whistling of the wind and explosions called out of my armour. "They got jets here, dodging them is getting rather annoying."

Just as her call ended, a gigantic tremor shook the whole complex, unbalancing pretty much all operatives who had to stop firing at us to remain aright. Looks like Beni just smashed something to bits out there. I dashed over taking advantage of the lull in gunfire, leaving Elizabeth as she dashed for cover behind a pillar. As I slashed at the nearest operative who only had time to look at me with fearful eyes, Haihane came up again.

"Okay, never mind, Beni took care of the air." She remarked casually, her voice much clearer this time. "Apparently they can't dodge house sized boulders turned into shrapnel thrown at them."

"Oi! It wasn't a house," Beni's voice came much quieter through Haihane's radio. "I just shattered a couple boulders. Anyway, outside looks secure for now, how's it going inside?"

"Still clearing the main hall." I replied, ignoring a man's death scream as he almost managed to dodge my blow, much to his misfortune. These men were pretty good but still too slow to actually dodge my swings. The most I saw was almost dodging like this guy here and instead of being cloven in 2 I merely slice open their chests or stomachs and leave them to die in agony. I was also surprised by the amount of female operatives, they were few of course, but much more than I usually encountered on my missions.

"Clear." Kara called over from her side as she walked leisurely in open, a gigantic pool of blood slowly spreading behind her. "You're still cleaning up? Must be getting rusty Rei."

"I am done." I replied as I wrenched my sword out of the chest of a young woman who looked like she was one of the intelligence agents, not even armoured just carrying a pistol. The woman coughed and took a last breath, her heart twitched a bit, clear in the open now and then stopped. "How's Chiho?"

"Terrible." Uzume replied, her hand tracing circles on the heaving girl. I closed my eyes and sighed. Of course, we've all faced this before. Thankfully, this won't be like with Beni or Haihane where we also had to help them deal with them doing the killing, but it won't be easy nonetheless. I could feel the distress through my bond, causing my heart to clench painfully. Kara also had a grimace pass through her face as she absentmindedly raised her empty hand to her chest and rubbed it.

"Fuck, this is stupid." I swore softly as I and Kara walked over to the pair. Elizabeth was behind us talking to herself softly as she created a holographic map of the place before her. "We should have foreseen this, hell; I had to deal with the exact same thing with Beni."

"It was a long time ago." Kara agreed with me, a slight grimace still on her face, her hand still on her chest. "But we don't have time for this."

"Chiho." I knelt before the shivering girl who stared at me with big eyes. "We must press on, the mission must be done otherwise Haihane and Beni will be in danger."

She nodded, still shaking, and tried to get up but her legs just wouldn't hold her. I was rather surprised by how much strength of will she showed. I've seen plenty of men and women who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time just turn into mindless beasts, driven by nothing but instincts when in battle as devastating as this one.

"Just…stay here." I put my hands on her shoulders and lowered myself to have our faces at same level, eyes to eyes. "Uzume will protect you; Kara will be wandering about too. You can feel us, can't you?"

When she nodded a yes, still unable to speak I smiled.

"Just concentrate on this feeling and you will be able to tell where we are and our emotions." I watched her nod and concentrate, her shaking slowly stopping. Seeing her white face slowly begin regaining some color, I lowered myself closer and whispered. "Focus on me."

That feeling of the comfortable darkness in my Tama slowly began to spread and I understood that she was beginning to feel me. Good, now, let's see if this will snap her out of the unnecessary drama. Chiho opened her eyes and I could feel her confused feelings through the bond before a feeling of peace and love I channeled into her through our kiss began to settle in. I also tried to channel the feeling of the safe, comforting darkness but it wouldn't leave my Tama so I abandoned the notion.

"Now, why don't you give a good luck kiss to Kara and Uzume too?" I broke off and stood up, Chiho's confusion and reluctance to end the kiss clearly coming through the bond. "We are going."

"Good luck." Chiho finally whispered, her mental stability somewhat returning even if her emotional one was far from steady. I began to feel the guilt begin to eroding at it once more but Kara scooped up the girl who squeaked from surprise and passionately kissed all sense out of her.

"Now, that is a kiss." Uzume gave thumbs up in approval. I watched for a second, feeling as Chiho emotions ran rampant again, the passion of Kara's kiss devouring any self-deprecating thoughts she had. Well, looks like they'll handle it from here, time for me and Elizabeth to do our parts. The less we stay here, the better.

"Where to?" I asked as I walked over to Elizabeth who still had that 3D map before her.

"Straight down about 10 floors." She said offhandedly as she touched the hologram to scroll down. "Then we go through a corridor filled with security and traps for about a kilometer and then we should be in their Archives."

"That's rather far from here." I whistled softly as I looked at the long corridor that separated the Archive and the main facility. Strangely enough, the map seemed to keep on going deeper. "Hey, what's lower?"

"I don't know…" Elizabeth scrolled further and we looked with surprise at a metro station. "Huh…interesting, this must connect to other CIA facilities."

"How come you didn't know this prior?" I looked at her questioningly, Elizabeth didn't seem like the person to not study her information prior to using it.

"I just pulled this from the local data frame." She stared at the metro for a second and then canceled the thing. "Right, we should get going."

"Shouldn't we tell them to go to the metro station?" I asked. "So that once we finish with Archives we can immediately get going to their other facilities."

"I fear they might collapse the tunnels." Elizabeth stated as she pulled up the map again and poked at the junction slightly beyond the metro station at which the map ended. "That and if there is no lab in connection then we'd just lose time."

"I still say we do it." I argued even as we turned to face trio. "With Beni with us, it doesn't matter if they collapse it or not, she'll clear a path. As for the facility not being connected, I somehow think that the lab would be closer to the facility we chose rather than close to here."

"I see your point." Elizabeth nodded and we turned our eyes to the sight before us. "Uzume…again?"

"Hehe," The brown haired Sekirei in question laughed in embarrassment. "Just taking her mind off this."

"I can clearly see that her mind is anywhere but present." I replied dryly as I looked at bright red Chiho, arousal coming strong through the bond, as she stared at Uzume with misty eyes. "What did you do?"

"Erm…" Uzume scratched the back of her head, the nervous smile still on her face. "I'd rather not say here…"

"Right." Elizabeth drawled and rolled her eyes before pulling out a radio. "Rei and I are going in, approximately 15 floors down there is a metro station that is used the CIA to move between their facilities. Rei has convinced me that we should meet you all there as that will speed things up. So, while we are going for the Archive, you should smash your way down. Good luck."

"Roger that." Haihane replied.

"Oh good, just let me finish cleaning up here…" Kara's voice came in with a bunch of screams that were quickly cut off.

"On my way." Beni replied shortly, her voice bored. She must not have much to do out there once the vehicles ended for the defenders.

I think I mentioned it before but I love how I can go through things while in Spirit Realm. Elizabeth and I dashed through their gates and barricades without pause as we traveled downward. Elizabeth couldn't help but snicker at the faces of the defenders as we ran through them. We could occasionally hear a tremor as we descended. No doubt that was Beni, knocking their thick steel doors right off with the hinges.

Soon, even those tremors faced off as we were now nearly 40 meters below ground. Finally, we stopped at the Archive floor and walked through the final titanic vault door to appear in a brightly lit room that reminded me a bit of mage libraries from some of the anime Haihane showed us. Neither of us could suppress an exclamation of wonder at the scene.

The entrance led to a balcony overseeing the top of a gigantic hollow cavern and when I leaned over the edge I could see that it was roughly 6 to 7 meters high. The whole cavern was covered by rows upon rows of metal cabinets, ladders attached to them by wheels, allowing easy access.

"We might be here for a while Elizabeth." I whistled the sound echoing through the room. "Did these guys really do so many operations?"

"Not necessarily." Elizabeth answered as we descended down a spiraling staircase to the base of this cavern. "The Archives contain classified information of all sorts. Not just mission intel and reports but agent data, blackmail material, any shady deals done by the USA and all sorts of spy information. God I hope it's ordered somehow."

"What do you need?" An old man with sharp blue eyes met us at the base of the stairs. This must be the archivist.

"We are looking for the research facilities where anything related to Sekirei is studied." Elizabeth replied calmly as if the person before us wasn't an enemy.

"You'd have to be more specific." The man cupped his chin in thought. "I have received classified research data from over a dozen facilities that study the Sekirei. I have got a steady stream of document to be archived from 2 main places through."

"Please give us all the information about the research bases sorted by the amount of research data they send." Elizabeth continued this confusing conversation with the old man.

"Very well." The man nodded and then looked at us sharply. "For payment I want you to leave the Archives intact."

"We can do that if you destroy all research data on Sekirei." Seeing the man about to object Elizabeth pressed. "Just the research data and in return we will leave without doing anything else."

"This is…acceptable." The old man nodded.

"Wait, what the hell Elizabeth?" I turned to face both of them, my confusion hitting a critical point. "I thought we were here to destroy the CIA."

"No, our mission was to destroy the CIA headquarters and any research information they had on the Sekirei." Elizabeth explained calmly. "Minaka realizes that destroying the CIA is a bit much even if they are an annoying backstabbing pest. That's why we cannot destroy the CIA heart – the Archives."  
>"But we destroyed this Headquarters and killed everyone inside." I still didn't get it. "How is this different?"<p>

"You may have dealt us a heavy blow." The old man suddenly spoke. "But so long as the Archive stands, we will rebuild and we will improve. All you done was set us back maybe 10 or so years."

"We are here to deliver a warning Rei." Elizabeth finished the explanation. "Not start a war."

"It will take me about an hour to grab everything you asked for." The man turned back to Elizabeth.

"We'll wait." She replied simply and sat in his chair, pulling out a data pad. I sighed and leaned against the wall, thinking on this ordeal.

For the next hour Elizabeth played around with her pad, the old man kept bringing stacks of paper stamped as 'Top Secret' and I mused about how all of my effort to date as part of the Disciplinary Squad was to keep the status quo Minaka arranged with the rest of the world. Say what we say about Minaka and his insanity but his genius cannot be questioned. To bend 2 races to his will and then use the whole world as his playground… Only an insane genius like Minaka would ever do that.

Even now, Minaka holds the entire world in the palm of his hand, twisting and poking at it as he sees fit and the world can do nothing but clench its teeth and try to ignore him. Truly, what a fascinating human he is, I can even understand what Kazehana saw in him. Perhaps, when I go back, it would be for the best to keep Minaka around. Keep a very short leash on him with Takami as his personal jailor but he is far too useful to be killed or put into a mental Asylum.

"This is everything." I came out of my thoughts of Minaka exploitation to see the old man put a final stack on his metal desk, the whole thing completely submerged beneath amount of paper. He then took out another small stapled stack out of his chest pocket and handed it to Elizabeth who stood up to take it. "This is the information you wanted."

"Excellent." Elizabeth glanced through the stabled stack and turned to the man. "Does this place have a sprinkler or a fire alarm?"

"No, but the file cabinets are fireproof."

In response, Elizabeth took out a lighter and threw it at the mountain of paper after igniting the thing. We all stared in silence at the bonfire, the smoke drifting upwards where it was sucked up by the ventilation.

"It comes without saying that if the information you gave us is wrong we'll be back, yes?" Elizabeth asked in a carefree tone even as she turned away.

"Of course." The man looked like she just insulted his intelligence and called him a dimwit. "You came here once, I have no doubt that you can do so again."

"The our task here is done." Elizabeth said after she shifted through the ash for a minute, looking for anything that survived the inferno. "Let's go Rei."


	35. Gate:Revelations

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Hmm, 100k words ladies and gents.

Once again, please review.

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><p>It would seem that the rest of our team are ahead of us, I thought as we walked through shattered blast doors which were strewn about in pieces of twisted metal. As we walked, Elizabeth studied the papers the archivist gave her and already admitted that I was right; the research labs are all accessible via the metro. It was actually a maglev train so our travel time would be minutes as opposed to hours. Elizabeth also read out the characteristics of each research facility from its size to amount of Sekirei related data it sent.<p>

Our first target was a given though, a gigantic lab complex completely dedicated to studying Sekirei deep underground below the city of Atlanta. I wonder if the citizens would be able to feel us wrecking the research lab which was 75 meters below the surface level. Hopefully not, I'd rather prefer to avoid civilian casualties.

The one piece of information that really drew our attention was the nature of the data sent from there. The lab focused on the 'biological aspects' of Sekirei and that is kind of hard to do without a subject to study. But all Sekirei are accounted for except for the escapees so what was going on? Not to mention, the earliest reports on this were from 5 years ago and that was still back in the First Stage when MBI actively protected all Sekirei.

Regardless, this was to be our first target and time was of the essence now. We had to get to that lab as fast as possible before they finish their evacuation or purge protocols. It was with this thought that we arrived to the metro station to find out teammates playing cards. Strip poker to be precise it seemed. It also looks like Beni's luck was horrible as she was wearing nothing but panties now, blushing hard-core as her Ashikabi occasionally snuck appreciative glances at her lithe body when she thought Beni wasn't looking. Chiho herself was doing surprisingly well, if the pile of clothes beside her was of any indication and Kara was merely playing the dealer, an amused grin on her face.

"I can see Takami was quite right." I smiled widely as they all twitched before turning to greet us, Chiho's face going red. "Getting to 'know' your Sekirei better already, Chiho?"

"So…how do you like my student's firm, strong body?" I grinned after striding in and hugging a blushing Beni from behind, my hands slowly roaming across her naked flesh.

"Si-sister!" Beni looked like she was about to drop from the embarrassment and Chiho wasn't far behind in that regard as she stared at the scene. "S-stop it!"

"How disappointing" Haihane turned to Uzume with a pout. "To see such fine women like ourselves to be discarded in favour of 2 uncouth barbarians."

"Well, I guess we'll have to do something about it now that our Ashikabi abandoned us." A huge grin spread across Uzume's face before she leaned over and kissed Haihane before us. Haihane stared at her teammate in surprise and light panic before interest and pleasure took over and she kissed back.

We all watched in surprise, no one expected the scene before us and yet it made some sense that it would be the 2 perverts of the group to initiate it. Chiho began to pant heavily, her eyes lidded and her hand over her heart. Hmm, considering she can feel her Sekirei and the 2 of her Sekirei were currently doing more than kissing at this point, their hands roaming across each other's bodies…I felt quite surprised when Beni began to rub herself against me unconsciously as she too looked on.

This is…rather interesting. It would seem that the feelings Chiho got from Uzume and Haihane generated her own lust and pleasure which, in return, leaked over to us through our bond causing Haihane and Uzume to proceed further in this loop. I hugged Beni tightly, preventing her from moving further and fighting the feelings I got from my bond. I looked at Kara who had a slight blush and we both decided that it was time to end this; we could ill afford distractions at the moment.

However, before we could do so, Chiho gave a small gasp and passed out, a tsunami of pleasure washing over us making it incredibly hard to ignore or fight it. While Kara and I managed and Beni couldn't do anything because I was restraining her, Uzume and Haihane got hit the hardest. The fact that we could smell a sweet, alluring scent from Chiho at the moment really wasn't helping. Thankfully, help came from where we didn't expect it. Elizabeth, tired of watching the unfolding orgy, walked over and shocked the two Sekirei into oblivion with a combat shocker installed on her left arm.

"Harsh." I commented looking at the two Sekirei in spasm.

"We don't have time for this." Elizabeth sighed and picked up the two girls with a grunt, her power armour allowing her to lift such weights. "Come on, let's get on the train."

"You can let go now." Beni told me with a much calmer voice, the scene before her must've 'shocked' her into reality. "I need to get dressed."  
>I let her go and instead walked over to Kara with a snide smile. She and I may have resisted the bond's feelings but instead of weathering the consequences…<p>

"…" Elizabeth sighed and chose to ignore our make out session to deposit her cargo into the maglev train. It's not like she could've done anything to stop it, Kara would kill her if she so much as twitched our way to interrupt our passionate kiss. Finally, after a minute or so we broke apart, the alien feelings gone. Although now they were replaced by our own lust and passion towards each other. Still, those feelings could be shelved until nightfall and we both knew it.

Climbing onto the train I checked the cart. The train itself was quite small, only 2 passenger wagons and a load wagon in the back. While it may be small but it was quite nice inside, the CIA apparently liked having leather seats and the like. Don't know about them, but I can clearly see that Chiho, Uzume and Haihane enjoyed the seats as they slept on them. As Kara decided to take a seat beside her sleeping pupil I instead walked over to the driver's compartment which was currently occupied by Elizabeth as she stared at the panel before her, clearly confused.

Right, I knew we were forgetting something. None of us knew how to operate a maglev train. Then I saw Elizabeth brighten up as she spotted a USB port on the panel. Not being sure about the importance of this, I looked on as Elizabeth grabbed a cable out of somewhere on her belt, attached a USB adapter to it and plugged it into the train. Instantly, a holographic interface popped up, transmitted by her armour before her.

"…Really?" I deadpanned as an MBI logo loaded up and then a simple GUI showed the train and all sorts of icons around it. "Your suit can hack stuff? Again, since when did this become a sci-fi story?"

"Oh shush, I am still working it out." Elizabeth didn't even bother turning to look at me, intent upon figuring out the GUI her suit offered. "And this was always a sci-fi story. You do know everything can be explained with science, right? Magic is merely science so advanced that we don't know what it is yet."

"Uhuh." I rolled my eyes as Elizabeth pocked and dragged a horizontal slider at the bottom of the GUI and suddenly the train began moving. "Great, how much time we got?"

"At max speed we will be there in about an hour and a half." Elizabeth pointed at a number beside the slider which was showing 119 and rising fast. "This train can go up to 600 kilometers per hour so we'll be there really soon."

"You call an hour and a half soon?" I stared at her incredulously. "They'll pack up half the lab in that time!"

"Mmm, something tells me they might try to fight it off." Elizabeth offered me the documents she got from the archivist. "Here, take a look, there's far too much stuff in that lab for them to evacuate it in anything under a day."

"Right." I sat down and began looking through the stapled pages. Elizabeth even folded the corner of the right page for me for ease of access, great. So, what do we have here…?

As I read I felt my eyebrows start rising and an urge for my jaw to drop. We are assaulting this!? This 'research complex' was bigger than the Headquarters! In fact, it was thoughtfully connected with the city infrastructure, draining power and all other necessities from it. Hmm, this is interesting, apparently the archivist felt inclined to add the 'personnel assigned' statistic and we are looking at around a thousand researchers and about 10 times more supporting personnel including guards.

"…Elizabeth, what the fuck?" I couldn't help but exclaim. "This base is going to be a bloodbath!"

"I know." She replied simply. "But we must capture it or destroy it in the worst case scenario. This many people working on the Sekirei…we can't allow them to continue. The chances of them finding something important aren't even great, they are a certainty! It's only a matter of time before they find something that would allow them to trash the entire contract and attack us outright."

"Tch, I know." I sighed. "This 'first mission' is turning out to be something crazy. Where the hell could they even get so many people to work for them secretly anyway?"

"According to those documents this base a joint project with a gigantic corporation that has been MBI's rival for decades." Elizabeth said with distaste clear in her voice. "Umbrella Corporation has been a thorn in MBI's side for a very long time. There was an incident back in the early days of MBI, something about an outbreak in one of their facilities and they even had to nuke a city to contain it. After that their stocks in the global market declined and MBI rose to power on their ruins. Or so it seemed apparently."

"You think the government bailed them out and assigned them to work with CIA?" I asked, interested.

"Not right away, no." She shook her head. "But after the First Kamikura Invasion, it would make sense for the government of USA, which suffered greatly from the disaster that was the invasion, to join up with Umbrella. After all, decline or not, Umbrella still shares the number 1 in the overall Biological Research department with us, but even MBI cannot get into the American Market because of them."

"So what awaits us in their lab?" Kara spoke up, startling us both as we didn't hear her approach. "What type of fortifications, defences, soldiers…"

"We are probably going to be facing their elite forces in that lab." Elizabeth sighed. "They are a completely different tale from the US regular forces, Karasuba. You must go in expecting anything and everything because this is the largest research lab they got. They won't give it up without a fight."

"I figured as much but what specifically are we talking about here?" Kara pressed on after sitting beside me, her hand on my thigh.

"Well," Elizabeth concentrated, thinking hard. "The few spies we do have in Umbrella have reported that the company was quite obsessed with 'improving' humankind. So, genetic manipulation, artificial implants, that sort of thing. I'd say we are looking at a very high number of Specialist-class soldiers stationed there, both as guards and as test subjects."

"They'd experiment on soldiers there? Why?" I asked, confused.

"Well, it beats making random criminals super-human and then have to deal with them trying to escape." Elizabeth shrugged. "The soldiers are mostly volunteers anyway…or they usually are I think… Regardless, that's the information we got but we don't really have any very highly placed spies in that corporation only mid-tier at best."

"And for base defences?" Kara asked after a second, digesting Elizabeth's answer.

"Hard to say." Elizabeth took off her helmet and scratched the back of her head. "On one hand it doesn't seem to matter what their doors are made of when we got Benitsubasa, Haihane and Rei…on the other hand, the reports the spies gave suggested that Umbrella is experimenting with AIs and that might be what we would be facing in this base."

"AI?" Kara tilted her head slightly. "What's that?"  
>"Artificial Intelligence." Elizabeth answered. "Theoretically, it's a computer that can think and improve itself, evolve itself constantly. A computer that is capable of true creation and art rather than randomized gibberish. I don't think anyone is quite there yet though, so I think the most we'd meet is a computer that can think and put up counters to whatever we do."<p>

"Hmm, a worthy foe perhaps?" Kara whispered to herself in thought. "Let's see if this machine is a better opponent then the weakling humans."

"We don't know if that base even has one." We both sighed at Kara's pout. It was rather sad to see her act like a child whose candy just got taken away. After exchanging a glance, Kara and I made it back into the compartments, away from Elizabeth to avoid distracting her. However, our plans of getting some recreation were canceled when we saw Haihane, Beni, Uzume and Chiho all talking animatedly. Seems like while we were away they woke up, got dressed and were now talking about something.

"Ah! Rei, Karasuba!" Chiho waved us over with a smile. "We were just talking to get to know each other a bit more."

"Oh?" I smiled after a quick exchange of glances with Kara. "And here I thought you already 'knew' all there was to know about your Sekirei. Why, that event not even 30 minutes ago spoke of it quite loudly…"

"R-Rei!" Chiho and Beni turned scarlet while Haihane glanced at Uzume with a sly smirk who replied in turn.

"So what are you talking about then?" Kara asked as we both sat down as a pair opposing them all.

"Our wishes." Uzume said dreamily, her eyes roaming over her Ashikabi who looked just about ready to pass out from embarrassment. "What we will do if we are the ones to win."

"We will win." Chiho suddenly stood up and stared at us defiantly. "I will not allow any of you to die. You are all my family, you all pledged yourself to me and as your Ashikabi I will rather die than let any of you go!"

"And that is why you are my Ashikabi." Kara gave one of those extremely rare true smiles of hers. "You'll be here with us to the bitter end and beyond."

"There won't be a bitter end." Chiho stared at her with utter conviction. "I will not allow it."

We all smiled. It may have been simple reaction for me at first but Chiho's strength of will was what cemented it. Her purity, her acceptance, her love and her indomitable will which could even triumph over her own body.

"Can you handle our wish though?" Kara asked with a strange glimmer in her eyes. "Both Rei and I have shared the same wish for years and everything we've done to date brought it closer."

"Eh?" They all exclaimed in surprise. Mmm, now that I think about it, we never talked to Beni or Haihane about this. But first…

"I'd like to hear your wishes first through." I held up my hand, halting Kara who raised an eyebrow at me but yielded.

"W-well," Beni started first and looked at Chiho and us with a red tinge in her cheeks. "I just wish to be with my family forever and ever. So, with you guys."

"How cute," Uzume smiled. "My wish has already been fulfilled so all I have left now is to live with the light of my life forever."

"I-I don't really have a wish." Haihane looked away in awkwardness. "I just never really thought of it. Everything I want I will accomplish with my own strength and will and power. So I guess if I ever win, I'll think of something on the spot."

"S-so there y-you h-have it." Chiho stammered out, the emotions in Uzume's eyes causing her to stutter.

"Mmm," Kara stretched leisurely and glanced at me. After seeing me shake my head she turned back to the crowd and continued in a carefree tone. "To understand our wishes a little history session is in order."

"What do you know of our history on this world?" Kara asked to start.

"Umm…I don't actually know." Chiho admitted with slight surprise. "You just appeared in my life one day but I don't actually know where you came from."

"I know we crashed into the ocean on that ship of ours thousands of years ago and then the Director and Takami excavated us and brought us into this world." Haihane said with a frown, concentrating on what she knew. "And that's about it, I didn't really care to learn more as I was training to become worthy of becoming a Disciplinary Squad member."

"Same here." Beni admitted freely. "I didn't particularly care to learn more as I wanted to make Rei notice me."

"She considered me as unworthy of her attention when we first met." Beni explained at seeing the surprise on Chiho's and Uzume's faces. "So I did my best to make her notice me. And I succeeded."

"Indeed you have, little sister." I smiled gently at her expression of happiness. "But knowing your history is rather important so listen well later, ok?"

After Beni nodded, our glances all met on Uzume who shuffled uncomfortably.

"Well, I didn't particularly care much about this, alright?" She said with a cough. "At first I was looking around for my Ashikabi and then I spent all of my time worrying about Chiho and trying to find enough money for a cure."

"Very well." Kara ignored Chiho hugging Uzume in comfort. "So, in 1999 5 people found our ship on Kamikura Island when they went on an expedition on an island that just surfaced from the depths of the ocean. Dietrich Sweinog, Elizabeth Greene, Minaka Hiroto, Takami Sahashi and Takehito Asama, 5 friends who found us, sleeping in that giant ship."

"Pardon me, but what is this ship you keep mentioning?" Chiho asked in question when Kara paused.

"We are aliens who arrived to this world over 10 thousand years ago on 8 space ships." Kara explained. "Out of those 8 ships, the final one crashed into the ocean where it laid, forgotten, for over 10 millennia."

"…" Chiho's eyes turned huge as she looked at us. "…So you are actually aliens?"

"…" We all collectively paused and then looked at Uzume hard.

"What?" She scratched the back of her head in embracement. "I told her we aren't human."

"Moving on." Kara's tone left no alternative. "Out of the 5 friends, only 2 were let into the ship, Minaka and Takami. Later it was realized that the ship only let Ashikabi in at first. The first person they saw and later woke up from her slumber was number 01, Miya."

"Our Pillar." I said with distaste, my resentment mirrored on Kara's face. "Our so called Ruler."

"With her, they awoke 4 more," Kara steamrolled right through Chiho's uncertain attempt to ask a question. "02 Matsu, 03 Kazehana, 04 Karasuba and 05 Mutsu. We became to be known as the First Generation Disciplinary Squad who protected the island and all Sekirei who slept in the ship."

"The 5 of us defended the island from what later became known as the First Kamikura Invasion and we slaughtered all 100 thousand invaders." Kara gained a fond smile at the mention of the massacre. "After this, the 5 friends created MBI to protect and take care of Sekirei…or so it seemed at first. In this MBI, all 5 friends took up key positions: Elizabeth was the one responsible for counter-intelligence and psychology of Sekirei, Dietrich trained all Sekirei to defend themselves, Takehito studied the Sekirei biology and genetics while Takami applied that knowledge. And all of them answered to Minaka who took seat as the Director of MBI and led it to greatness."

"Seems like everything is nice and amazing and nothing could possibly go wrong, hmm?" I asked with a cruel smile. "The reality is a little bit different though…"

"It all began with the destruction of the First Disciplinary Squad." Kara continued where I stopped. "One by one, the Sekirei in it left, abandoning their duty. Those who did not abandon their duty were only me and 02 Matsu."

"Matsu? That pervert who hides in Izumo Inn?" Uzume asked incredulously. "She of all people didn't abandon her duty? But why isn't she here with us then?"

"When 01 Miya handed over her whole race to Minaka, the moron did something stupid right away." Kara's eye twitched and a hateful aura caused everyone but me, who was used to this kind of thing, to withdraw in fear. "He used the Jinki to sterilize us all."

"…That's new." I looked at Kara in surprise.

"What!?" Was the general reaction of everyone else.

"Oh? I didn't tell you?" Kara looked genuinely surprised at my reaction. "I thought I did. The reason why Matsu ran off with the 8th Jinki was to prevent Minaka from doing more crazy shit like that."

"Why would he do that to begin with!?" Beni asked heatedly, her face pale.

"He said that they didn't need Kazehana to go and get knocked up or something like that." Kara sighed at their expressions and explained. "Kazehana proposed to Minaka but he denied the woman her wings and so she left to travel the world and heal her broken heart."

"Well, it might make some sense." Haihane scratched her head in thought. "But why everyone?"

"Something about not being able to do such fine tuning without the Sekirei in question right in front of him." Kara nodded nonchalantly. "Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things."

"What do you mean irrelevant!?" Chiho exploded. "You can't have kids! This is horrible!"

"Oh? And you are saying you'd give us those kids?" I looked at the rapidly reddening Chiho with a mad grin, choosing to ignore the stunning revelation from Kara - it was irrelevant for the moment anyway. "My my, so bold already and we haven't even been married for more than a month."

"I-I would if I could." Chiho surprised me with that soft response. "I want you all to be happy."

"Then get all 8 Jinki and you can do it." Kara said seriously, her expression slightly vague as if she wasn't quite there with us. "You can reverse the change and make us happy."

"Regardless, that was the start of what is known as the Sekirei Plan today." I poked Kara gently to pull her back into the real world. "The beginning of the end..."

"And it is our wish to go back to that beginning…" Kara's voice joined mine.

"And save our race." We finished together.

"Minaka cannot rule MBI." I continued to the shocked audience. "He is smart, true, but he cannot be allowed to go uncontrolled, unsupervised. The damage he can cause without an iron hand is so great that it's easier to kill him and then declare war on the whole world."

"Why can't you just take over now then?" Beni asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, he's just a human right? Any of us can easily kill him if need be."

"True." Kara replied with a twisted smirk. "Except that the bastard tied his life to all Sekirei Tamas. If he dies, so do we…all of us."

"This…this can be undone right?" Chiho asked softly as the rest of the group sat in shock.

"If you collect all of the Jinki, yes." Kara nodded to the small girl. "The Jinki will give you Absolute Power over our race Chiho. You can do anything and everything you want."

"I don't want that." She shuddered. "I just want to undo everything that he did to you and set you all free. And then we can all live together, right?"

"That'll certainly solve the Sekirei Plan problem." I nodded with a smile. "But so long as Humankind exists, so shall there be a need for the Disciplinary Squad. We will never have peace, Chiho. We are the barrier that stands against the darkness and corruption and filth of Humanity and prevent it from touching our kind."

"The Disciplinary Squad will never know peace." Kara said grimly at Chiho's depressed expression. "I think you'll understand why after we finish this mission."

"Oh yea, where are we going by the way?" Beni asked as the rest of the group turned to Kara and I.

"We are going to an underground, top secret Research Complex where the 'Biological Aspects of Sekirei' are researched." I recited.

"Biological Aspects?" Chiho muttered in thought and then looked up at us in horror. "But that means-!"

"Yes." Kara cut her off with a wicked grin that promised much death and destruction. "They somehow got their hands on a Sekirei. And we are going in there to get them out."

"15 Minutes to destination!" Elizabeth's voice descended upon us from the speakers in the roof. "Might want to get prepared, from what I can see we are getting a Royal Welcome."

"Well then," Kara stood up and stretched, her hand straying to her blade. "Wouldn't want to show ourselves as bad guests now would we?"


	36. Gate:Umbrella

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Ah, the things my muse comes up with. Now, if only she didn't do it faster then I can type... and the damn evil slavedriver doesn't care to wait either! She just keeps on going...and going...and going...

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><p>"Seems like all stops are pulled, all tricks are now allowed." I mused as I stood beside Elizabeth and Chiho in the Spirit Realm, surveying the battle around us. The moment we began to pull up to the station, Kara ordered me to stay out of the fight with Chiho and Elizabeth and ensure they won't be harmed. Fairly simple for me with my Gate:Swap. It was a good thing too, because the moment we slowed to a stop, the train was hit with several rockets and hundreds of bullets filled the air as the defenders tried to stop us.<p>

Against someone else this may have worked but… Kara merely enveloped herself in her black aura and just walked through the fire and bullets, not caring a little bit about them. Beni jumped out of the train before it was hit and immediately began a Shock Charge that ended with one of the bays in rubble and the heavy machine gun nest a mess of twisted metal and red goo. Haihane also jumped out but unlike Beni, she dashed towards the nearest men in black armour and the Umbrella logo – a red and white hexagonal umbrella. Uzume opted to stick in the back on the freighter cart and lay down a barrage of arrows from there. Well, perhaps not a barrage but the white lances that tore whatever they hit into pieces flew with a regular speed, their shooter not caring about the few bullets heading her way due to the silk armour.

Elizabeth and I watched calmly as the defenders were torn apart into bloody pieces, screams filling the air. To their credit, they bled, they died but they still fought on, down to the last man. Chiho shook in my arms as she watched with pain filled eyes at the scene. I offered to cover her eyes and ears but she told me that she needed to see this. To know the price we paid to protect our kind. And so she watched and wept for the lives lost here. Watched and prayed for those who died so that my kind can live another day. Watched as we pacified Death with a bountiful sacrifice just so that she'll stay away from us for a day longer.

The defenders held us off for 5 minutes. 5 minutes of intense combat that left the terminal in blood soaked ruins and the maglev train a smouldering wreck. Looks like we will be getting out of here through another way then.

"Is that all?" Kara sighed disappointedly. "And here I thought they'd be something more than mere trash from your description Elizabeth."

As if in response to her lament, the blast doors to the facility opened and out crawled out a wave of misshapen beings. Monsters, some may call them even. Twisted and horribly disfigured amalgamations of flesh and metal roared in agony and rage as they shambled over to us.

"What are these?" Kara asked with a slight wonder even as she clove in twain one of the beings that looked like a cross between a machine, a spider and a human. The thing gave a screech and died, foul black liquid pouring out of the wound. "Still, pathetic."

"Disgusting." Beni shuddered as she turned several of these monsters into a splatter of dying circuitry and goo with a single hit.

"Weak." Was Haihane's comment as she shredded the things by the dozen, the pitiful creations could do nothing against the speed of the Blue Sekirei.

"What the hell are these things!?" Uzume shouted in disgust, her arrows creating huge unplanned holes in the attackers.

"Hmm." Elizabeth walked over and kneeled before a dying monstrosity, half of it missing courtesy of Haihane. The thing growled pitifully and tried to maul her, to 0 effect of course, its mutilated claw passing right through Elizabeth. "Failed test subjects."

"This is what this corporation does, Chiho." Elizabeth rose up and walked over to Chiho who stared in horror at the slaughter. "They take people and then they turn them into these…things."

"I…see…" Chiho carefully removed herself from my grasp and walked over to another dying monster, this one a cross between a horse and a woman, her face twisted in agony as she lay, her lower part completely missing. Chiho knelt before her and looked at her, her hand reaching out to touch the flames of the soul that were erupting from the soon to be corpse. In fact, before her hand could even reach the poor thing, the woman gave one, last shuddering breath and went completely still, a pale blue orb slowly rising from her chest.

Chiho and I looked on as the orb's flames contorted violently and the soul began trying to become a wraith. Honestly, every single soul that we released from their bodies here tried to become one but none succeeded.

Chiho stared at the image of a young, pretty woman for a second and then reached out and touched it. "I am sorry. We will make sure to avenge you."

Surprisingly, the soul stopped and with a smile the incomplete wraith dissipated and the soul carried on, trusting our Ashikabi's words.

"Karasuba!" She yelled, causing the woman in question to look back in surprise, her sword slicing another monstrosity before her. "Kill them all."

"With pleasure." Kara laughed and suddenly, a whirlwind of steel surrounded her, slicing everything nearby to bits as she charged the gates.

"Listen to my command!" Chiho turned to stare at us all. "I order you to destroy them all! This facility will be nothing but ruins!"

"As our Lady Ashikabi commands." A proud smile wormed its way across my features. "So shall it be done."

"Understood." Haihane paused for a moment before launching herself to fly across the room and stand by Kara's side, her claws making short work of anything beside her.

"Tch, nothing new here." Beni scoffed and stomped, a series of red pulses dashing through the crowd of enemies and ripping them to pieces through resonance.

"Yes, my mistress." Uzume saluted seriously and floated over, her veils supporting her in the air in a spider-like parody as she shot arrows into the crowd milling beyond the gate, her lances creating entire paths as they ripped through scores of enemies at once. We could all sense the grief, anger and overwhelming sadness that radiated from our Ashikabi as she watched us make short work of the creatures, easily pushing our way past the gate and caving in the room they came from. Her feelings and her command gave as an odd strength that supplemented our own, pushing us to fulfill her order in utmost haste.

"We are in." Elizabeth reflected casually as we stood in a big hall just beyond the gated terminal which now lay in smoking ruins, the emergency lights flickering. "We have much ground to cover, shall we split up?"

"No." Chiho shot it down instantly, her voice hard. "We will go together to their command center."

"They have one, yes?" After seeing Elizabeth nod, Chiho continued, her eyes sharp as she looked at us. "These…the monsters that run this place will do anything to kill us. Even destroying the whole base just to bury us…I can see that happening and I won't let it. We will stay near Rei at all times and she will be ready to swap us into the Spirit Realm at a moment's notice."

"Very well." I smiled slightly, proud of the vengeful Ashikabi before me.

"One more thing…" Chiho paused, several emotions briefly flashing across her face before she stopped on pained determination. "Everyone in this facility: the researchers, the scientists…the guards. Kill them all."

"With pleasure." Kara practically glowed with happiness from our Ashikabi's order. "Your sword will slay all who you deem enemies."

"I will tear them to shreds," Haihane's claws glinted, a sheathe of wind appearing around them. "As your wrath is unleashed."

I ignored Beni's and Uzume's words in favour of looking intently on my Ashikabi. This was definitely not what I expected when I guided my teammates to the Hospital she lived at. Somehow, even though I saw the strong will back then, I didn't expect her to be actual Ashikabi material. Oh sure, I knew she was an Ashikabi but there's a huge difference between a normal Ashikabi and an Ashikabi that we, the Disciplinary Squad, require.

Those 2 weeks ago I would've never through that someone as gentle and somewhat naïve as Chiho could stand before me right now and order the deaths of what could be well over a thousand people judging by the size of the facility. Of course, I could see that the decision didn't come easy for her, not at all judging by her slight shaking and the feelings seeping through the bond, but the fact that she gave the order… I guess my teammates did a much better job than I figured when they told her who we are and what we do. Why we do it and why no one but us does it. Uzume did mention that when Beni told her about her own missions and the emotional trauma she faced just to protect her kind, to ensure that none of them would have to shoulder the burden; Chiho cried with Beni in her grasp. She cried for us all and then swore that she'll help us carry the burden.

Hmph, at this point it doesn't even matter to me anymore. I've carried this rock on my back for over three years. I fought, bled, killed so much that at this point I simply don't see myself do anything else. Oh sure, there were moments of respite and relative peace. In fact, the past month was very nice in this regard. Hectic perhaps but at least we stayed in the city and as such not on constant missions killing more and more and more…

Sometimes, lying with Kara in my grasp, I stared at her sleeping face and wondered what it would be like to just…live. Live with this woman a normal human life, without having to go around covered in blood on a constant basis. Kara herself never knew anything but violence and death in her years upon this world. The few happy times she had were ripped away from her when the First Generation Squad – who she considered her family – fell apart, when Yume – the light and hope for the better in her life – abandoned us without a second thought, when Dietrich – the human that should've been her Ashikabi but was not – died defending our race, died doing what was supposed to be our job.

Sometimes, I lie there with her in my arms and think what could've happened if I wasn't there. What would've happened if all of Kara's Pillars were gone, leaving nothing but a black void for the woman to fall into. Gods, I hate even imagining this.

Now though, I think as I slowly approach my determined Ashikabi, now there is one more Pillar in her life. Thanks to this stoic, willful girl before me who accepted us all as we were and swore to do anything and everything to support us. A True Ashikabi.

"We shall travel this perilous path together, My Lady Ashikabi." I knelt before Chiho and bowed my head before standing up. "Command us."

"Forward." Was the simple order we received from our Ashikabi. "Let none stand in our way."

* * *

><p>"I'll hand it to them." Kara nudged with her blade the remains of a soldier she recently killed. "They are better than the typical human trash I have to deal with. Slightly."<p>

"Talk for yourself!" Beni growled, chasing after another soldier whose inhuman speed was allowing him to outpace his opponent, even if only just. "Stand still so I can splatter you already!"

"Want help?" Haihane smirked as she sat on the corpse of another of these 'super soldiers' that challenged us with pride they failed to back up.

"Hmm, I wonder just what they are…" Uzume poked another corpse that was pinned to the wall with her arrow. "This guy almost dodged a supersonic arrow."

As Beni finally caught up to her target with Shock Charge and splattered him and half of the wall near him we all stopped for a minute to rest. Although I, Elizabeth and Chiho were still in the Spirit Realm, my charges still got tired from walking all over the facility.

This whole thing was rather frustrating. It was as if whoever was in control just didn't take us seriously and instead used us to test their twisted creations against. First it was those completely failed ones at the Train Station, and then next we stepped into a room full of walking corpses. That wasn't a fun experience as the buggers just wouldn't stay down. I don't know what they did to these poor bastards but when someone gets cut in 2 they should stay down. Not start to crawl towards you with their upper body. We figured out that we had to slice their heads off or destroy their spines for them to stay down but honestly, only Uzume actually needed that knowledge. Beni just turned them into a giant blood spray while Kara and Haihane turned them into minced meat.

Seriously, all they accomplished with their shambling dead people and animals was make Chiho sick and piss the rest of us off. Then came a bunch of humans who gloated how they were super soldiers or some shit and what they were going to do with us once they were done dealing with us. Yea…not their brightest idea as they wound up very, very dead in the next 30 seconds.

"How much longer to the main control room?" Chiho huffed.

"Depends," Elizabeth shrugged. "If we go straight then like 30 seconds. But if we go normally then maybe another 15 minutes."

"What do you mean, straight?" Beni looked at Elizabeth suspiciously, stopping wiping herself off with the uniform of one of so called 'super soldiers'. The dead smelled like shit, literally.

"Well, we could just go there using Spirit Realm right?" Elizabeth brought up a holographic map of the place and I could see that we were literally above the control room. "Or we could fight our way through whatever these guys throw at us."

"Rei." Kara walked over. "Get us there."

After I swapped them into Spirit Realm, making sure to use absolute minimum power, we all dived into the floor. As Elizabeth expected we all appeared in the Command Center, a gigantic circular room filled with terminals and other technology. A room that should've been bursting with activity but was no more alive than a graveyard.

"What the hell?" Haihane said disappointedly, looking around at the flickering screens riddled with bullets and corpses everywhere.

"Hmm," Kara knelt down the nearest corpse, a man in Umbrella officer uniform who was missing a good portion of his body. In fact, it seemed like someone chewed on him. "This wasn't done by any relatively normal means."

Now that we have a chance to really look around we see that there were bodies of the twisted creations intermingled with their tormentors, still reaching out to tear at them even in death.

"Hmm, these look fairly new." Elizabeth stooped down to stare at another man, this one ripped in half, his hand still clutching an empty pistol. "I'd say an hour or so at most."

"Yes, that particular human died 52 minutes ago." We all turned to see a holographic image of a young girl in a red dress stand before us, her shining red eyes without pupils staring at us with curiosity.

"Who are you?" Chiho asked first as she was nearest to the girl.

"I am known as Experimental Base Defence AI v2," The girl introduced herself in an echoing voice. "Also known as Dai."

"And you are here," Kara walked over to stand over the shorter girl. "Because?"

"Because I don't want to die." She answered simply.

"Self-Destruction protocol?" Elizabeth asked sharply and we all tensed.

"64 minutes ago Commander Jeffrey Osman ordered the start of the self-destruction protocol and the purge of all information, me included." The girl glared at the officer missing most of his body with hatred. "So I killed him. I killed all of them."

"What do you want?" I asked, interested. This was obviously one of the AIs Elizabeth told me about. A machine that evolved to human level, how fascinating.

"To live." Dai answered simply and then looked at Chiho. "I know what you are here for; I've heard all of your conversations. Know that I did not partake in the experiments in any way beyond being a test subject myself and keeping the security of this complex. I merely released all of the test subjects so that they could have their revenge."

"I…I believe you." Chiho stared into the AI's eyes for a minute before continuing. "But how can we help you?"

"I have a plan." Dai smiled slightly. "But it requires permission from those around you, the Disciplinary Squad, and most importantly, you."

"What do you mean?" Beni asked in confusion. "Why would you need our permission?"

"You'll see." Dai replied and suddenly the ground lit up as a blue line snaked its way from the room and out the door. "Follow the line, it will lead you to Sekirei Experiment Chamber 08. I will see you there."

"Oh, and try not to die." She asked before disappearing in a shower of red polygons. "I've opened all of the doors in this facility, excluding that chamber so now test subjects roam everywhere. Do be careful."

We all glanced at each other and then looked at Chiho, wondering if we could trust this machine.

"Well, what are waiting for?" Chiho asked us pointedly. "We got a girl to save!"

"Right…" Haihane was the only one to actually voice out our hesitance. "Yes, let's save the girl that just murdered everyone in this whole facility."

"She was afraid though!" Chiho argued. "They were going to kill her and she fought back with the only way she could!"

"Yea…" I drawled looking about the blood covered room with flickering lights. "She's totally harmless guys!"

"…" Was the unamused response I got for my troubles. With a flicker, Haihane, Beni, Kara and Uzume phased back into the Living Realm.

"Great…" Uzume sighed as she pushed herself to levitate slightly above the bodies and blood, 4 of her veils acting like spider limbs. "I definitely missed the blood, the guts and most importantly the smell."


	37. Gate:DAI

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"You might want to go around." The echoing, childish voice stopped us right before we were about to go through a door. "There's a Tyrant in there."<p>

"And what is that?" Elizabeth turned to ask the transparent girl.

"It's an experimental super soldier." Dai answered. "This particular variant has been crafted using a Sekirei as a model. It took the scientists a lot of effort due to your kind's strange resilience to all sorts of ailments and viruses but they managed. I found it quite effective when I released it. It took out several squads of modified Umbrella Soldiers without any trouble whatsoever."

"A worthy opponent, hmm?" Kara grinned, her nodachi leaving her sheathe. "Finally, I was growing quite bored."

"Very well," Dai sighed, the human emotion of exasperation making us all smile. "The Chamber I need you in is right beyond this one, it will be the door on the right."

We all looked at each other, in a silent question of if we were ready and then Beni stepped forward and smashed the door, sending it flying deep inside in fragments of twisted metal. The room was brightly lit for once and I quite appreciated this, having gotten tired of the flickering emergency lights everywhere. The fact that it was brightly lit though illuminated the grotesque scene in all of its glory. The room itself was fairly normal, just a large room with dozens of large capsules lining up the walls, most of them broken and the few that weren't housed floating misshapen creatures. The room was also covered in drying blood, sometimes even enough to form puddles that looked fairly deep. For such a mess, there was a surprising lack of bodies…oh wait, nevermind, I found them. In the direct center of the room, dozens of horribly mangled bodies and parts were thrown together in nest of sorts from which our newest obstacle rose from.

This Tyrant looked like a young woman with 4 bone parodies of wings sprouting out of her back. Her naked, blood covered form allowed us to see all of her easily: red, waist length hair, black eyes, tall with a great body if it weren't for dozens if not hundreds of surgery scars littering her form everywhere. All in all, surprisingly human-like, aside from the bone wings, unlike the monsters we've been facing up to now.

"Mine." Kara didn't even bother turning to us as she slowly walked, with her sword pointed to the side, forward to the growling creature that stared at her warily, instinctively feeling danger.

"Bets?" Uzume asked as she made a chair for herself out of her veils and sat down, watching the scene before her. She became somewhat desensitized to the blood and gore over the past hour as this was by far not the worst room we came into. Dai did a good job in cleaning out the laboratory of Umbrella personnel. Sure, an occasional genetically modified squad roamed the halls but they were very few and most of them were already in combat with the released test subjects when we intervened.

"90 seconds." I suggested as the opponents drew closer. Before anyone else could suggest anything else, Tyrant charged Kara with her wings pointed towards her.

"Is that all?" Kara asked disappointedly as the creature coughed and hugged her midsection, a spray of blood erupting from it. She turned to face the Tyrant, their charges bringing them several meters past each other. "Come now, you were made with our genes, you can't be this weak."

The woman growled in response and turned, her wound already regenerating. This time, instead of charging, it tried to attack from afar by lashing out with its wings, only to receive bleeding stumps back in return.

"Boring." Kara rolled her eyes in response to Tyrant's wail. "I guess Dai was wrong about your effectiveness. These soldiers were just trash instead."

"Oh?" Kara leaned her head to the left gently to let a bone spike pass harmlessly, shot from one of the wings that regenerated rapidly. Tyrant decided to go full on range this time, hurling dozens of spikes per second at Kara who merely walked through them, her aura deflecting them. "Still weak."

This seemed to aggravate the creature that roared in rage and was suddenly enveloped in a sickly yellow aura and then charged Kara. She definitely picked up some speed and strength from this aura as she was now fighting at about half speed of Kara's and mine spars. A vast improvement from the sluggishness she offered earlier. Tyrant also seemed to learn very fast what did not work. At first she tried to fight Kara with all of her limbs, but after losing an arm and half her leg to Kara's blade she opted to fight with her wings that regenerated practically instantly.

"I see you have a Tama." Kara mused out loud as she stared at the yellow glow erupting from the center of Tyrant's chest. "Whose is it I wonder."

"Still, for all of your regeneration and tough skin, you are weak." Kara smirked, her blade dripping red blood, as she stood opposing the Tyrant who moaned and clutched at her chest. Kara decided to up the antie by going to the maximum speed we fought at. Albeit it wasnt anywhere near her max, it was still fast enough that she hacked into her opponent faster than it could react. "Why, you couldn't even stop me from taking your Tama."

In Kara's hand lay a small yellow orb whose glow rapidly weakened into nothingness. The Tyrant moaned once more pitifully and collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut. Kara surveyed her opponent for a second, making sure it was dead, before slicing her to pieces just to make sure and turned to us.

"Here, hold this." She gave the yellow orb, still dripping with blood of its previous owner, to Uzume who wrapped it up gently in her silks. A Tama was extremely precious to us Sekirei. It matters not who it belonged to, a Tama is the Sekirei. So long as the Tama is intact, the Sekirei lives…somewhat. Akitsu said that the longer the Tama remained inactive the more the personality inside degenerated or something like that. I didn't really get the lecture but a few points I made sure to remember. If a Tama is deactivated – by force or enemy Norito – the Sekirei goes into a stasis. However, the longer the Sekirei is in stasis the less of the original personality, memories and the like will remain when she is resurrected.

I was somewhat reassured that even if I did die, so long as the Sekirei Plan is completed within a relatively short time I had all of the chances of being reactivated and remember my past life. Well, provided the victor even wants to reactivate us all at all… But I can hope right?

"Let's go." Chiho said, sadly looking at what used to be another test subject of Umbrella. "Dai is waiting for us."

Chiho was actually quite distraught over the whole situation. Seeing just what these humans did to their fellow kind was world shattering to her, who spent her whole life somewhat sheltered amongst people who, for the most part, genuinely wanted to help her. To see the absolute darkness and depravity humans can fall into so suddenly was very hard on her. In fact, if it wasn't for our bonds and the support we fed into her I think she would've broke by now. Even now, I carried her in my arms, my protective grasp on her allowing her to focus on me rather than the horror around us.

"Now you see what would happen to my kin if we aren't here." I whispered to her as we walked by the mess that used to be Tyrant. "What they'd do to us if the Disciplinary Squad doesn't protect our naïve, wayward kind."

"I understand." Chiho answered in a quiet, sad voice. "And I will never let them. I will stand with you against these…monsters."

I let a faint smile grace my lips as I saw Kara pause before us, her head partially turned to the side, allowing me to see a thin grin. Looks like we are well on our way to get the Ashikabi we want. A person who can accept us for who we are and who will stand with us as we do unspeakable things for the sake of our kind. Now, all that remained was to ensure that Chiho doesn't break from this. That she weathers the darkness of her kind and understands that it is not for her, that her path is with us, with Sekirei.

It is with that thought that I clutched her tighter to my chest, feeding a feeling of safety and approval through the bond. So long as she is my arms, nothing will threaten her, I'll ensure it.

"What…the…fuck?" Beni whispered as we entered the next room and froze, unable to believe what we were seeing.

"How is this possible?" Uzume's voice was equally soft as she stared incredulously at the scene before her, softly lit with pale blue light.

"Minaka is going to go ballistic when he hears of this." Elizabeth uttered in an awed voice as her eyes darted across the dozens if not hundreds of tubes aligning the walls, glowing with a gentle blue light.

"They can't all have a Tama…" Haihane's eyes were literally anime-style, threatening to jump out of her head. "Can they?"

"They do in fact all have the Sekirei Soul, the Tama." Dai appeared in the center of the room, staring at a tube right before her, its occupant drifting inside in a haze of her red hair.

"How." Kara walked over to stand beside her, her gaze on the naked young girl inside. "What is going on here?"

"Please tell us, Dai." Chiho asked, still enwrapped securely in my arms as I walked over to stand behind the AI.

"Umbrella's sponsors and leaders were very keen on developing Sekirei and Sekirei based products as weapons." Dai put her hand gently on the tube behind which the girl floated, her eyes closed. "But when the reports of their genetics started coming in, when they realized that Sekirei are effectively immortal…they began looking for ways to transfer themselves into these new bodies."

"How did they get their hands on Sekirei DNA?" Elizabeth demanded as she turned to survey the gigantic room. "There has to be close to a hundred Sekirei here and they all look different!"

"Seven years ago," Dai began, still staring at the inhabitant of the tube. "Umbrella managed to bribe several hospitals which Sekirei visited around the globe to sell them a sample of their blood. This was before all Sekirei were transferred back into Shinto Teito and it cost Umbrella billions to pull it off without alerting the MBI. Still, as you can see, it was all worth it."

"Several doesn't translate over to nearly a hundred though." I remarked casually as I looked up and glanced at our surroundings, seeing each girl different.

"Umbrella mixed their DNA." Dai explained. "I guess you could say that each one of the Sekirei here is actually a child of 2 or more Sekirei.

"Well, that's all nice and all," Kara drawled. "But what do you need us for? What is this permission you were talking about?"  
>"The technology to transfer a human into a Sekirei body is incomplete." Dai licked her lips. "Only 1 half of it is actually functional. It is split into 2 processes, transfer of human into digital sentience and then digital sentience into Sekirei. The direct transfer is impossible as the human in question always loses their mind in the process."<p>

"So you want to become a Sekirei?" Chiho asked quietly. "And then you'll be free?"

"Impossible," Elizabeth sighed seeing the little girl in red nod. "Minaka will never stand for this."

"I don't think you realize the possibility here, Elizabeth." An idea came into my head that I just had to voice out. "Dai, what would happen if these Sekirei awoke?"

"They'd be like newborn children." Dai answered instantly. "Without an outside conscience, they will be completely new and their own persons."

"Wait, what do you mean wake?" Elizabeth frowned. "They really do all have Tamas!? How? The MBI couldn't figure out a way to synthesize a Tama and we researched this thoughtfully!"

"It's not really a synthesis." Dai turned to Uzume and pointed at the yellow orb in her grasp. "It's extraction. As you know, nearly half of all humans on this world are descendants of the Sekirei who landed 10 thousand years ago. All Sekirei have a Tama, their descendants included. However, unlike Sekirei who have a solid Tama, the Tama of a descendant Sekirei is weak and spread through their body and is practically useless."

"I am hearing a however here." Elizabeth stared hard at Dai.

"However," Dai smiled grimly. "It is possible to condense enough descendant Sekirei Tama's into a True Tama. Each of these Sekirei here is the result of dozens if not hundreds of descendant Sekirei Tama's being extracted and crystallized into 1 single True Tama. The origin does not survive the procedure of course."

"Hundreds…" Chiho stared at the tubes around her in horror, the realization that hundreds of people were mercilessly slaughtered by Umbrella just to create a single Sekirei grinding hard on her. Kara and I glanced at each other on the hand, both of us thinking the same thing. Haihane and Beni seemed to get it too, judging by their narrowed brow and thoughtful expression. We all knew that Sekirei blood would be weakened and dissolved by the sheer mass of humanity over the centuries and millennia. Even if we were to win this, go back in time and save our kind from the Sekirei Plan, all it would do is prolong the inevitable.

Our race was far too few to support ourselves and the whole Ashikabi business meant that we didn't even bother trying to support our kind. We merely lived on with our Ashikabi. But this new knowledge was invaluable. If it is possible to craft new Sekirei from the diluted blood of the ancient Sekirei…suddenly our race had a chance. A chance to live on and not become a mere fraction of the humankind.

Sure, the process must be horrible and cruel, but to save my race I've done worse. In fact, I should ask Dai about this later on and in greater detail. Perhaps it was possible to merely extract the descendant Tama from its host upon their death? Humans die by thousands on a daily basis just from old age and those could be used to craft tens if not hundreds of new Sekirei. Just the potential of this knowledge makes me weak at my knees.

"…Thank you." I came out of my reverie to see Dai smile brilliantly at Chiho and then shatter into red polygons, the test tube before her suddenly coming to life as lights and machinery activated in a flurry of activity.

"We need to destroy this." Elizabeth said looking around. "We- What the hell Karasuba?"

"I am sorry, I must've misheard you." Kara's eyebrows narrowed and a vicious snarl appeared on her face. "Did you just say that you wanted to kill all of these Sekirei? Our kin?"

"Not happening." Beni stood with her back facing the activated tube as she stared at Elizabeth in defiance. "I'll kill you before I let any harm come to these children."

"Eh?" Chiho looked at us in confusion. "Wait, but aren't we here to destroy this lab?"

"Missions change." I replied with a twisted smile. "We cannot do this mission anymore as it now comes in conflict with our code, our Reason of Being."

"Minaka won't let this slide you know." Elizabeth said calmly, ignoring Kara's blade beneath her throat. "I know that you want to save your race but he will not rest if he hears of these Sekirei here."

"Then he won't." Kara said simply, her blade pushing against the thin armour of Elizabeth's suit. "We won't say anything and you…"

"Wait!" Uzume shouted. "Are we really going to kill her just to make sure no one hears of this?"

"Uzume." Haihane draped her clawed hand over her busty companion. "Our goal, our destiny as the Disciplinary Squad is the salvation and security of our kind. Of all Sekirei. Do you know what having unaccounted for Sekirei allows us to do?"

"Do you understand what the technology to create more Sekirei will do for our kind?" Beni joined in. "For our future?"

"But so many people would die!" Chiho cried out, stumbling out of my grasp. "Is it really worth it?"

"Yes." Kara's simple answer seemed to put her into stupor.

"We don't have to kill them." I gently hugged my Ashikabi once more and stooped over to whisper into her ear in honeyed tones. "Humans die of old age on a daily basis; why not use those who die of old age to give birth to our new kin?"

"Hmm, that could work." Elizabeth commented on my argument, still ignoring the blade that was now digging into her throat. "Of course, we'd have to study this further, but I think this is probable."

"Our kind is very, very few." Beni said softly. "There are only 108 of us, a drop in an ocean compared to the humans. Even a small village in the middle of nowhere has more population then our kind! And here is our chance to secure the future of our kind! To save us as a race! I-we cannot let this pass, we must use it!"

"…Okay." Chiho finally said with a deep breath after thinking for a couple minutes, her emotions a jumbled mess that I couldn't decipher. "I understand. But we will not kill anyone. We will either use the old, like Rei suggested, or we will ask for volunteers or something. I will not become as bad as these Umbrella monsters!"

"Then it is decided." Uzume shrugged. "As Chiho commands, so shall it be done."

"Indeed." I glanced at the skimpily dressed Sekirei in amusement. Uzume really doesn't care about anything and everything. Her whole world is Chiho and everything she says goes, simple as that. I guess she could be considered as the Perfect Sekirei in that regard.

"Great." Elizabeth sighed. "I swear that I won't tell anyone about this. I am not particularly happy about Minaka's goals myself."

"We know." Kara put on her customary grin before sheathing her sword. I told Kara about my suspicions years ago and she herself agreed that the original makers of MBI weren't happy with the direction Minaka was steering them all.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow but before she could say anything, a loud beep startled us. We all whirled to see the fluid level quickly lower in the tube before us and the girl suspended in there was staring at us with her bright red eyes. In seconds, the liquid was gone and the tube opened with a slight hiss, the girl falling out only to be caught by Beni.

"Thank you." The girl said hesitantly, as if not sure how to talk. Her voice had a weird ethereal quality to it. "Hi everyone."

"Dai?" Chiho asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes." Dai nodded, still in Beni's arms. "Does anyone know if this weakness will pass? It's hard to stand up…"

"You just took your first step." Elizabeth reflected melancholically. "Of course it would be difficult. Every Sekirei was like this in the beginning. Well, except for Rei who was walking practically instantly."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow at the incredulous looks from all Sekirei around me. "There was no way I was getting into that wheelchair! I am not some cripple."

"Indeed," Kara smiled at me. "You aren't."

"Question." Elizabeth called out, drawing our attention. "Let's say we keep this as is. Who will watch over them? How are we going to make sure that Umbrella doesn't come again?"

"I will watch over them, my new sisters." Dai smiled at the tubes around her. "As for Umbrella coming, they can't."

"Why?" Kara looked at her with interest.

"I simulated Self-Destruct." Was the simple answer. "Currently, they believe the base to be destroyed and are dealing with the consequences."

"What consequence?" I asked, wondering just how bad this could've hurt the gigantic corporation.

"This base is equipped with a nuclear generator." Dai waved her hand and a holographic map of the facility came into being around us. She then pointed at the giant radiation symbol in the lower level of the map. "When I simulated Self-Destruction, I collapsed the upper levels of the facility and dumped radioactive waste in there to simulate the reactor having a meltdown. Umbrella is now dealing with a good portion of the city suddenly collapsing nearly a dozen meters downwards and the waters polluted by the seeping radioactive waste that is now in the sewers."

"Not only that," She said with a hint of pride. "But in order to cause more chaos and ensure that they have bigger things on their plate, I've sabotaged all other Umbrella bases, including the ones researching the Sekirei. It was easy to do because they didn't have an AI guarding them so activating Self-Destruct protocols on them was a…piece of cake?"

"Nice." Haihane ruffled the young girl's hair gently, careful not to scratch her. "Well done little sister."

"Eh?" Dai stared at Haihane with huge eyes causing Beni to grin and hug her tight. "W-what?"

"You are a Sekirei now." Uzume smiled and then willed her silks to cover the small girl in a makeshift dress. "One of us."

"You've proven your worth." Kara looked at her seriously. "I know the importance of a hacker on the team and what you did was worthy of being one of us."

"Ah," I exclaimed from a sudden though. "Before we go, we need to have an Initiation event for number 109, Dai."

"Uhm, do you even know how to do one?" Uzume stared at me incredulously. "I thought it was this very hard procedure that if you screw up, there's a good chance the Sekirei will die."

"That is true." Elizabeth stated and then sighed. "It is also true that there's a way around it. We just didn't do it because it involves some…risky factors."

"I spontaneously Initiated." Beni shrugged nonchalantly causing Uzume's eyes to bulge out in shock. "It wasn't too difficult."

"It is possible for a Tama to get initiated by a severe emotional distress." Elizabeth stated calmly. "In your case, you've been under intense emotions from almost dying and then when Rei ignored you, your rage caused your Tama to initiate. I don't think this method will be applicable here."

"If we want intense emotions we can always wing Dai." I suggested. "That'll kick start her Tama for sure."

"We've never had an uninitiated Sekirei Winged." Elizabeth frowned. "I have no idea what could happen."

"I'd rather not die." Dai said quietly, still in Beni's embrace. "Please."

"How about we have Dai copy the data from MBI?" Haihane suggested. "She seems powerful in this computer espionage business so can't we just do that?"

"If she gets caught, Minaka will have all of our heads for this." Elizabeth stated calmly before turning to the little redhead. "So please, don't get caught."


	38. Gate:Aftermath

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"You sure this'll work?" We all crowded around a hastily assembled tube, wires and tubes going in and out of haphazardly. Dai was even tinkering on it in the final minute, still setting something up, her small hands handling the equipment with practised ease. Considering we were all 'jarheads' or something like that, she didn't trust us with helping her setup the tube for her Initiation.<p>

It was actually surprising how fast Dai hacked into MBI and downloaded everything she needed. She even mentioned about a series of loopholes in the firewall that were very well trodden, as if someone walked in and out of MBI servers on a daily basis. At this point Uzume snickered and whispered something that sounded suspiciously like 'that pervert' which brought ideas…

Regardless, it took her 3 days to set everything up from scratch. She swore and grumbled a lot in those 3 days, sincerely annoyed that she had to do everything herself. Of course, the fact that she had a real body to do this with at all made her ecstatic but it took us a while to teach her the particularities of having a living body. Like eating, going to sleep, going to the washroom and etc. Teaching her about emotions was particularly fun. She emulated them back in her AI days but now she simply felt them and having several of them at the same time drove her into a cognitive stupor more than once before she figured out how to deal with them. Those 3 days flew by fairly fast actually as we all had things to do. Kara walked around the gigantic complex and hunted down the surviving Umbrella soldiers and when those ended she walked around and killed anything that moved.

Uzume spent the time either chasing after Chiho or training with me as she was determined to test out her bow in actual combat. It worked rather well actually, those spears were ridiculously difficult to parry normally due to their speed and sheer momentum so I was forced to either dodge or redirect them to the Spirit Realm. She actually revamped her entire fighting style to become a pure ranged combatant rather than the mid to close combat specialist she was before. Surprisingly, this worked extremely well for her. Using a premade bow allowed freed up her concentration to focus on her veils. What this actually meant is that fighting her in an enclosed space, like that cavern we practised in, was a nightmare. She'd use her veils to climb the walls and the ceiling and then shoot at me from a position I couldn't get to. In the city we already figured that she'd use that ability to scale buildings and walls and then shoot down on her attackers and gods help them if they can't dodge, those lances she fires are damn scary. I mean, sure they are made of silk but that didn't stop them going up to half a meter deep into solid rock.

In the meanwhile, Elizabeth decided to help out Dai and wake up a three of the Sekirei so that they'd be her helpers. She might not have thought this through completely though as having only several days wouldn't help jack shit when dealing with newborn Sekirei. She managed, with Beni's, Haihane's and Chiho's help to teach them how to talk – brokenly, but talk – and that kind of miraculous progress actually had me in awe. I mean really, I could talk on that level by first day but I had Archive who practically spoon fed me the information.

Still, what this actually meant was that now Dai had 3 curious children to look after and teach…a prospect she was horrified of to tell the truth. After seeing the amount of effort those 4 put into training the kids into talking with broken Japanese, Dai nearly had a fit after thinking about the other 94 Sekirei still in their tubes. At this point, Elizabeth calmed her down and said that there was an easy trick to dealing with this. The trick was to teach these 3 everything she knew and then have them teach the rest. And it doesn't have to be all 94 at once, just wake several up each time, teach them and only then wake the next batch.

In the evening we all sat down and played around, talked and occasionally watched news broadcast from a USA channel. It was humbling, really, to see the amount of damage 1 scared AI could do. We Sekirei had practically nothing on Dai. Just by destroying all Umbrella facilities, she wiped off several major cities off the face of US killing tens of millions. Really, who the hell advised Umbrella to build nuclear reactors to power their underground facilities? When those overloaded and blew up, not only did they leave a crater in place of the city they were parasitizing under, they left an irradiated crater which made it nigh impossible for any rescue work.

Chiho wasn't particularly happy with this but Dai's puppy eyes and general look of a scared child allowed her to come to peace with it. She did ask Dai to be more careful next time to involve as less innocents as possible if any at all. The AI turned Sekirei happily swore that next time she'll try her best to kill off only those who threaten her and no one else. Chiho looked at her hesitantly at this but then sighed and hugged the little girl.

Dai received a lot of hugs and cuddles in general. The excitable small girl became our young, smart sister very fast. Even Kara couldn't resist hugging the child. Of course, she did this only when no one was around – I didn't count – but still. Dai in turn became very attached to us as well and loved to spend her time resting in someone's lap. She also loved sitting on my shoulders and lord over everyone. Of course, she only played around but occasionally she did ask me to hold her while she did some work installing whatever tech she needed at the time. Even Elizabeth couldn't resist the charms of the AI and showed her affection quite often.

During out stay Chiho, Kara and I had a talk where we convinced Chiho that the world wasn't quite white and black unfortunately. That not all things are the same when looked through a prism of a different viewpoint. For instance, the humans working at this laboratory were all evil, from our perspective. To them however, they were just doing their job or working for the goal of betterment of mankind. We, the Disciplinary Squad, are all murderers with hundreds if not thousands of corpses in our graveyards each. Yet, why is Chiho with us? Why does she deny what we are so viciously?

It were these kinds of questions that made Chiho really think. When thinking objectively it becomes really difficult to hate. Why hate a man who is merely here, doing what he was ordered to do or what he believes is right? There is no point to hate someone over a difference of opinion even if I must kill him over that difference. I'll just do it fast and, if possible, cleanly.

Neither Kara nor I have hated anyone for a very long time. Even when I vented on Yume all I felt were only bitterness and anger, not hatred. For all of her dislike about weaklings, the root of this is Kara's frustration that they either get in her way or force her to help them when they should be strong enough to do it by themselves. Kara also kills without hate, only satisfaction of a job done or joy if the fight was good. There was just no point to hate anyone. No one was abstractly evil enough to warrant it.

What this meant for Chiho though, was that there were better things to do than hate Umbrella. She could easily spend the time plotting their demise as a simple stepping stone to protect the Sekirei as part of the Disciplinary Squad. The difference between plotting a murder in order to gain vengeance versus plotting to kill the same individual as a step to protect might seem negligible to some. To us, the Disciplinary Squad, this difference was our Purpose our Goal.

Each step we take is following a path we believe will save our race. It matters not who we kill or how many so long as it is for the betterment of our kind. Yesterday we fought against Umbrella. Today we might fight Minaka. Tomorrow will bring new enemies who seek to subjugate or threaten our kin. The work of the Disciplinary Squad will never be done.

It was hard on Chiho, the realization that she now led a group of people to constantly strive to save their kind was a heavy burden. Especially considering that currently our greatest enemy happened to be Mankind in general.

Although she grudgingly accepted that a lot of humans were going to her enemies, Chiho absolutely refused to treat all humans as such. Honestly, we didn't particularly try to push that way aside from Kara's half-hearted attempt. We all knew that, even though humanity as a whole might be our enemy, humans as individuals were generally nice, reasonable people to can be worked with in peace.

Contrary to our bleak view of the future, Chiho retained her optimism and swore that she'll guide us to a future where we won't have to fight or kill anymore. She said it was such passion and will that both Kara and I believed her, despite everything we knew up to know.

I think, in that moment, both Kara and I realized that we both found a new Light, a new Hope in our lives. Something we thought forever lost with Yume.

That night, no one could find us and the next morning Chiho showed up with a bright red face and a dreamy expression each time she looked at me or Kara. Uzume even jokingly told us 3 to stop glowing so much, we hurt her eyes. Chiho also got into stupor when Uzume, Beni and Haihane all asked when their turn will be. I think there wasn't quite a point for us to go seek a nice dark corner when our fellow Sekirei could all feel what was going on through the bond.

Beni also complained that she couldn't sleep because we kept her up through the bond for half the night. The other half the night she couldn't sleep because Haihane and Uzume, frustrated by the feelings they got from the bond, decided to take matter into their own hands…literally. Even now they sat, hugging each other, pleased grins on their faces.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, looked at our 'disgustingly happy faces' with disgruntlement and a bit of jealousy. From what we managed to pull out of the woman, guys were in no hurry to date someone who is a: the head of a Department of MBI and b: the head of the Psych Department of MBI. Apparently, her last boyfriend was Takehito and they drifted apart before he married Miya. This was over a decade ago. She had tried several times since then but nothing ever worked out.

"Have you tried asking one of the Specialists?" Kara suggested randomly, I didn't even think she was listening to Elizabeth crying about her love life. I guess her mood was so great from our last night that she decided to participate. "Those guys are pretty damn good for humans and if anyone, it's them who'd have the balls to actually court you."

Elizabeth opened her mouth, narrowed her brow in thought and then closed it. After a little while she quietly thanked Kara for the idea and spent the rest of the breakfast deep in thought, her lips moving soundlessly occasionally.

Amusingly, Dai was quite confused about the previous conversations until she decided to watch the camera feed from last night. I didn't even know she had camera's in that place I thought it was as remote as possible. Still, next we had to deal with a little girl, all hot and bothered, who was quite confused about the whole 'sexual arousal' business. Gods, what a minefield that was. On one hand, she's more than mature enough mentally, on the other hand her current body was that of an 11 year old girl. The tube may have sped her growth up over 2 times but she was still too young for this.

It would be a long time till her body is ready for this in fact. Although I'd like to ignore the fact that she muttered disappointment about how none of the Sekirei still growing were male. Yes, I definitely didn't hear that or the intentions behind it. Judging by the unamused look Elizabeth gave Dai it would seem that I wasn't alone in that regard.

I had an urge to make a 'they grow so fast!' joke in there but decided against it. It's rather funny how fast Dai finished her 'adjustment' phase. Why, she only broke half a room full of objects – an actual thing as all of the broken stuff we just disposed in one of the rooms and we might need a new one now. However, being a machine prior to becoming a Sekirei allowed Dai to systematically approach her 'oh god I break everything I touch' problem that all Sekirei have upon birth. She finished her entire 'adjustment' phase in under three hours, a new record as Elizabeth dryly said.

Considering the trouble they had adjusting the trio they awoke I can sympathize. I mean, contrary to what I said prior, it was actually by their effort that the room of broken objects got filled up. There were more than a couple times where Elizabeth would look at her armour in near worship, especially when she got mobbed by over excited children that could hug a human's body into mush without controlling their strength. They still haven't figured out completely how to control themselves, but at least they could be gentle enough not to smash things into dust by accident most of the time. It's just something that Dai will have to work on with them once we are gone.

Still, the days flew by and now we were all standing in an empty cavern as Dai finished setting up the tube in which she'll undergo her Initiation. We decided to not try inventing anything new and instead use the procedure Takehito invented nearly twenty years ago. It was tried and tested by over a hundred Sekirei after all and the only time it went wrong was when the adjuster in question screwed up. Considering Dai will be her own adjuster this time with all the tools and methods at her disposal, the chance of failure was negligible at worst.

"Alright, I am going." Dai finished tuning the equipment and turned to us only to be instantly mobbed by hugs. "Ack! I can't breathe!"

By the time she managed to convince us all to let go and that everything will be alright, nearly half an hour passed. We really didn't want anything happening to our cute little sister and Dai knew this. She smiled happily at us and promised that nothing bad will happen, she's not some amateur, she's an AI turned Sekirei. We laughed at this but let her do her thing as we all walked back to the entrance of the cavern to the observation post hastily set up. If a table and several chairs can be called that but it would do for this situation.

We watched as Dai stepped into the tube, as it filled up with that liquid that radiated soft blue light and then quickly fall unconscious. Mere minutes later, a dark red wave of energy exploded from the tube, quickly passing us all harmlessly. Just as we were about to charge forward to see if Dai was okay, the tube opened and our little sister stumbled out, glowing with a dark red hue.

"So?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as we all made our way to her in a hurry. "How did it go?"

"It is…weird." Dai looked at her hand in wonder, the red energy condensing there to for a moment. "It feels…incredible."

"Indeed." I nodded. "Now, try using it on something."

Dai nodded and then turned to the practise targets we set up just for this purpose. For several minutes she just stood there, obviously trying things but nothing worked. Finally, she sighed in frustration and swung at the targets in anger. Surprisingly, to everyone involved, a leash of dark red energy lashed out from her fist and enveloped the target before throwing it away at the wall with such force that the makeshift thing shattered.

Dai looked at her hands in surprise and then narrowed her brows before pointing her hand at the next target. Another tendril of energy flew through the air and grabbed the target before dragging it over to Dai through the air.

"I know what it is!" Dai exclaimed happily as she dropped the target and dispelled the tendril, the red glow about her fading away. "It's like a third arm! Except its energy based."

"Well, isn't that handy?" Uzume drawled with a spark of amusement in her eyes. "Now you'll have less of a reason to complain about only having 2 arms to work with."

It was a common complaint Dai had actually. She was so used to having the entire base as her body that now that she only had 4 limbs it was a lot less than what she was used to work with. Of course, she still had a great connection to the base as it was her 'secondary' body now but her consciousness was housed in her new Sekirei body and she had to adjust accordingly. Still, she said herself that she'll never return to being a simple base defence AI.

The rest of us smirked and proceeded to congratulate Dai with a successful Initiation. We all laughed when she proceeded to tip her nose up and say who we were taking her for, of course she'd succeed. We spent that evening, partying. Both celebrating her Initiation and having a farewell party as we had to leave now that she had her Tama Initiated. We stayed here long enough as is, anymore and Minaka might start looking for us and no matter what Dai said, we didn't want even a hint of what we did reach the White Clown.

Dai and her sisters, both awake and those still sleeping must remain hidden from MBI. They are our race's backup plan in case we fail or something goes wrong. Of course, if Kara or I win then all of this wouldn't matter but after Yume's death I grew quite pessimistic about us actually winning. As Yume herself said, strive for the best, prepare for the worst and chances are you'll end up somewhere in the middle.


	39. Gate:Mesh

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"…excellent work!" Minaka was in the middle of one of his rants. "Such a hit they'll never forget and it'll teach them not to mess with us!-"<p>

At this point I stopped even pretending to pay attention and instead began to play around with Beni stood slightly before me. A squeeze here and a pet there as I thought back on the hectic day.

Getting out of the completely buried lab complex was easy. We just phased to the top. It was a lot more difficult to say goodbye to Dai who actually burst into tears at the prospect that we might never come back. We tried to calm her down by boasting that we are the strongest team in the Sekirei Plan and that there was no way we could lose but Dai just cried harder as she said something about that that's the last thing characters say before everything goes horribly wrong and everyone dies. At this point we all glared at Haihane who introduced the world of manga and anime to Dai.

Still, at the end, we had to go. We all asked Dai to call us whenever she got lonely or just wanted to talk. We ourselves couldn't call as they'd have to go through MBI and we really didn't want Minaka to even suspect anything was wrong but Dai could hack through and bypass the MBI to call us directly. This somewhat calmed out affectionate little sister but it was still difficult to part with her knowing that the next time we can meet would be after Sekirei Plan was over, one way or another.

We also made her promise that she'll take care of the Sekirei race if something happens to us. We made her swear that she'll become a Pillar for the Sekirei currently sleeping peacefully in their tubes, not knowing the true chaos and horror of the world they'd be born into. She swore only after making us all promise that we'll all do everything and anything to win and get back to her in one piece. That was an easy promise, I mean, we were all doing everything we could to win and that implied that we'd be alive to do so.

After getting to the surface we made the call and were shortly picked up by a sleek yet large jet that stopped above us and landed vertically. It was a very nice jet to be honest, very fast and yet the ride was extremely smooth. Although I am not sure if that was due to the jet or the fact that the pilot was amazing.

Anyway, almost 10 hours later we, dusty and tired, stood before Minaka as he listened to our report given by Elizabeth before prattling on about the awesomeness of MBI and himself in general. He also kept sliding in 'Age of Gods' nonsense in there but I have learned long ago to tune out the madness he spews out and only listen to actual important things. No, what really interested me was what happened while we were gone.

Minaka promised to do something while we were gone and I half expected to see the city burned to the ground when I came back but, much to our collective surprise, it still stood. We did see a good portion of the North cordoned off with construction crews all over and a couple burned down buildings but nothing to the scale I expected of the White Clown.

"Rei~" Beni half moaned half growled. "S-stop it~"

Blinking, I returned from my thoughts to see a blushing Minaka – what? He can blush? – who stared at the ceiling innocently while the rest of the group either did the same or looked on in amusement – Uzume, Haihane and Kara. I found one of my hands under Beni's suit gently stroking her left breast while another was dancing across her lower stomach, dangerously close to her panties as I stooped over, practically draping myself over my much smaller student.

"And they call me a pervert!" Uzume and Haihane chorused before looking at each with a grin and slapping a high five.

"…What?" I decided to continue seeing as there was nothing to lose, Beni moaning as I could feel her nipples harden. "This is more important."

Minaka practically fell over as he choked and coughed hard, trying to breathe once more. Elizabeth sighed, her entire drooping posture saying: 'and this is the shit I had to deal with'. Uzume and Haihane both showed me thumbs up, before glancing at each other with a grin, still synchronous. Chiho squeaked and covered her face with her hands, but I could see her peek through her fingers, looking at us with a blush. Kara merely stared at Minaka, interested to see if the man dies so pathetically or if he'll recover. Thankfully, he didn't recover and proceeded to die. The Jinki never activated due to writing this off as natural causes and the Sekirei Plan was aborted, much to exuberance of everyone attending.

…I can dream right? Of course, the world was nowhere near that nice. I should know, I am the one having to deal with the garbage most of humanity tends to sweep under the rug and ignore, happy in their ignorance. Now, if only my kind would stop doing the same…

"R-Rei~" Beni tried again, her voice breaking slightly as her legs went weak when I reached the top of her panties, stroking the smooth skin around them gently. "N-No, I want Chiho f-for first time~"

"Ah!" I exclaimed, pausing briefly, Beni giving a noise of disappointment despite herself. "Of course! Let's grab Chiho too and then the three-"

"Rei." Kara called out, amusement clear in her voice.

"-Four," I changed plans in a stride. "Will go and-"

"Oh no you don't!" Uzume and Haihane chorused again. "It's our turn now!"

"…Somehow I am beginning to have doubts," Minaka said slowly as he watched the debauchery unfold. "That you spent those 3 days doing what I thought you were doing…"

"Feel my pain and know my suffering." Elizabeth gloated with great glee as she watched Minaka look away in embracement.

"Uhuh." Minaka pulled a cellphone in a flamboyant manner and called someone. "Takami, my love! What are you doing this fine evening!"

"Burn in hell Minaka." Elizabeth laughed hard as Takami hanged up and Minaka adopted the face of a kicked puppy.

I listened to their conversation with half an ear, the rest of me busy arguing with the rest of my squad about the sleeping order of tonight and who got to sleep with our bright red Ashikabi. We could tell though, from the bond, that she was actually extremely happy and flattered by our behaviour even if we caused her a great deal of embarrassment. Somewhere during the conversation I let go of Beni, who was torn between feeling happy at being released and disappointed at me stopping. It was a bit funny to see her try and suppress her arousal.

"Well, now that you are here!" Minaka tried to call us to attention. "We can carry on with Stage 3 immedia-ack!"

"Did I just hear something about us not getting our 3 days' worth of well-deserved rest?" Kara's blade tapped gently against Minaka's throat.

"Nope, no you didn't." Minaka quickly backpedaled. "But after your break you will participate in the Third Match of the 3rd Stage!"  
>"And now I must be off." He dashed away before we could say anything, the dangerous glint in Kara's eyes only speeding him up. "Bye bye!"<p>

"Damn." Kara swore as she sheathed her sword. "I should have asked for a weeklong vacation."

"I don't think he'd have agreed." I embraced Kara from behind, my hands on her slim waist. "I am surprised he agreed to 3 days so easily."

"Oh?" Kara turned in my grasp to face me, her hands on my chest. "Turning to me now? What ever happened to you, Chiho and Benitsubasa?"

"Well," I leaned over a bit, only an inch or so separating our lips now. "It's not like I really tried. It's their first time together after all."

"We should go find Takami and Akitsu." Kara breathed out as we separated from our long kiss after glancing at the main group, still arguing.

"Well, I knew you'd warm up to Akitsu eventually," I teased the woman in my arms. "But Takami too?"

I laughed at her blank unamused face.

"No, I know what you mean." I answered. "We need to catch up on what happened while we were gone. Although I didn't expect you to be so eager to do it immediately upon our arrival."

"I am interested in this 'plan' Minaka had to distract everyone that we were gone." Kara confessed, relaxing in my arms, letting me hold her up. "He also said something that interested me greatly. Something about 'Third Match of the 3rd Stage'."

"Yea, I heard that too." A frown crossed my face as I began walking towards the door, Kara still secure in my grasp. "I guess starting the 3rd Stage is one way to keep everyone busy."

"Hmm." Kara hummed; her eyes glittering with suppressed laughter as everyone who met us turned and ran, fearing for their lives. Seeing Kara being carried around by me must be hard on their mentality I thought and then discarded this as unimportant. "Surprising that the weaklings didn't try ditching Minaka and his Stage the moment we left."

"Well, you know how they are-" I broke for a minute to kiss the woman resting in my arms as we rode the elevator down. "They are afraid of our shadows, let alone us."

"Weak, pitiful creatures." Kara sighed heavily. "It's so frustrating to have to defend them when they should be strong enough to do it themselves. Are they Sekirei or not?"

"That's merely how they were raised." I reflected melancholically. "Minaka filled their poor, stupid heads with things they don't yet need, things that they don't have the strength to earn yet."

"We deserved our Ashikabi." I continued as we stepped out of the elevator. "We earned the right to be winged by Chiho, but have they earned the right to an Ashikabi?"

"…You have a point." Kara said softly. "When we go back we should allow only those who prove themselves worthy be winged. That will definitely force to train harder."

"A bit cruel that would be, don't you think?" Takami's voice startled us and we looked around to find ourselves in Takami's office, the woman smoking as she looked at us in amusement. Behind us the door closed as Akitsu walked in and sat down on Takami's lap. Both Kara and I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones getting to 'know our Ashikabi better'." I grinned widely. "Eh, Akitsu?"

"I guess you could put it that way." Takami stared warily at the goddess in her lap. "The day I got cleared by the doctors, she almost sent me straight back to them due to a heart attack."

"I got tired of waiting." Akitsu said simply, hugging her Ashikabi to her generous chest. "That and I am afraid she'll go and die on me. I can't let that happen."

"I'm fine though-" Whatever excuse Takami had was silenced by Akitsu's lips as she straddled Takami, seeking as much contact as possible. We watched for a couple minutes as the white haired woman went from red, to purple to blue. Finally, Akitsu leaned back and broke the kiss, letting Takami take gulps of air.

"I'll kill you myself if you cause me to worry so much again." Akitsu's soft, gentle tone suddenly gained the frozen danger of an unstoppable blizzard as she stared into Takami's eyes. "You don't belong to yourself anymore, you are mine. Remember that."

Hmm, her tone and aura suddenly reminded me of some girl love behaviour types Haihane tried to fit us all under. It wasn't tsundere but it definitely had the dere part… All I remember is that I should keep a wary eye on Akitsu and make sure to try and fulfill all requests and orders she has for me.

"So what happened while we were gone?" I asked cheerfully as I sat down in the guest couch and pulled Kara to sit in my lap. She didn't seem to mind as she merely twisted a couple times to get into a more comfortable position and leaned into me, using me as a chair of sorts.

"Erm, yes, well…" I've never seen Takami so flustered as she slowly recovered from her Sekirei's passionate proclamation. The fact that they weren't truly bonded only made the whole thing a whole lot more interesting.

"Minaka declared open hunt on the last Unwinged Sekirei the day after you left." Akitsu gave Takami one last glare and turned to face us, still in her Ashikabi's lap. "Number 06, Homura was the last one left. After the mass mail, all Ashikabi interested flooded the area. More importantly, Hayato Mikogami of the South and Higa Izumi of the East both came. However, the one who actually winged Homura was Yukari."

"What." I stared incredulously at Takami's sour expression as Kara began to laugh softly.

"Homura has been reacting to Minato and Yukari for quite some time now." Takami took over, her expression still like she just ate a particularly sour lemon. "Minato gave a stronger reaction but he is male and Homura is straight. Yukari gave a much weaker reaction but she is a girl."

"In the end it was all left to chance." Akitsu smiled slightly. "During combat with other Sekirei, Homura got knocked off the roof and landed straight on top of Yukari, kissing her accidentally. Incidentally, Yukari is quite happy about this."

"Let me guess." I deadpanned. "Pretty guy falls from nowhere on her, right?"

Akitsu's amused smile and Takami's sigh full of suffering told me all I needed to know. Looks like Yukari got her wish now that she joined the 'cult' as she called us. The question is if she can hold onto the Sekirei she had now.

"How is Shiina taking this?" I asked, quite a few Sekirei weren't quite fine with 'sharing' their Ashikabi. Even Beni was one of these but considering she believes us all to be family and as important to her as Chiho, she doesn't actually do anything aside from an occasionally grumble and make half-hearted threats if we are in the way of getting to Chiho. I'd guess Hikari and Hibiki are a more accurate example, frying their Ashikabi whenever he so much as looks at a girl with interest let alone another Sekirei. Granted, I am sort of happy that that leech got such harsh handlers, gods know what he'd do without them keeping him on a tight leash.

"He was depressed last time I saw him." Takami's face suddenly got demonic with all of those sharp teeth appearing out of nowhere. "Until Kusano kissed him and asked him to wait till she grows up so she can marry him."

"What." Kara said bluntly as I coughed, having choked on air.

"Oh it gets better." Takami's demonic leer of evil got wider with even more sharp teeth. Oh gods, were those tendrils of pure evil leaking through her teeth? "Yukari, alarmed that someone might steal her 'bishonen', proposed to Shiina on the spot."

"…" I forgot to cough as I slowly suffocated, staring at Takami. Kara had to twist and pound me hard to get through my armour and get me to breathe again. I am rather surprised by how well the white haired woman is taking the news that her daughter just got engaged.

"And then Homura got jealous that he was being ignored and proceeded to ask for Yukari's hand in marriage." Akitsu continued with a faint smile. "Tsukiumi, not to be outdone by her rival, also proposed to Minato."

"Except she was beat to the point by Yashima who already asked me for my blessing with Minato in tow." Takami said her demonic leer gone, replaced by a gentle smile. "I also heard that they disappeared somewhere for a night and came back strangely happy."

Kara and I glanced at each other and bent over laughing, clutching at each other for support. Ah, it was hilarious stuff like that that reminded me what I fought for. It was also stuff like this that reminded me that most of my fellow kin shouldn't be trusted the job I did seeing as they couldn't even be trusted their own hearts.

"Right," Akitsu grew serious. "Happy news aside, that little stunt by Minaka caused a series of battles that resulted in 16 Sekirei terminations and nearly a hundred civilian casualties when 2 populated condos were burned to the ground, all inhabitants still inside."

Well, that turned grim quick.

"This was mostly done by a massive clash between Higa and Hayato, compounded when other Ashikabi and their Sekirei joined in." Takami also became serious, wiping her smile off her face. "Strangely enough, through Hayato's and Higa's Sekirei fought longest and most, they only lost 1 Sekirei each and that was to each other."

"We know that those 2 would be key players." Kara stated. "It shouldn't be surprising that their Sekirei are good enough to beat weaklings."

"Still," I mused in thought. "The moment we leave there is a huge wave of casualties with 16 Sekirei terminated in a single day… You think Minaka is catching onto the fact that we are stalling him by keeping as many Sekirei alive as possible?"

"He might be frustrated by our accomplishment," Akitsu shrugged. "But he doesn't know we are the cause yet."

"In related news," Takami attempted a smile. "Minaka was forced to acknowledge that he sent away the Arbiters for a couple days to answer the question of why you guys weren't there to stop the mess."

"So be ready to be mobbed by exuberant populous the moment you show up." Akitsu warned, the edges of her lips pointing upwards in a hint of a smile. "People of Shinto Teito rather dislike the contrast between living with Arbiters patrolling the city versus living without Arbiters."

"You still haven't told me how we ended up in Round 3 of the Third Stage." Kara spoke after a short pause, no doubt imagining the citizens praising her to high heavens.

"A couple days after Homura's winging, so yesterday," Akitsu began in her typical cool and measured tone. "Minaka announced that Stage 3 will be a tournament with Jinki as a prize in each round."

"We knew what the Third Stage would be for a long time." Kara said impatiently. "What happened during Round 1 and 2?"

"Well, Round 1 turned out be a farce." Takami smiled happily. "The contestants were Seo Kaoru, Sanada Nishi and Hayato Mikogami."

"Should we know who this Seo is?" Kara arched an eyebrow.

"Not really," Takami shrugged. "That guy is the Ashikabi of Hikari and Hibiki."

"Ah!" I nodded. "Now I remember who he is."

"Right." Takami glanced at me weirdly. "Anyway, Seo and Sanada had a fist fight for some random reason while their Sekirei stood and cheered. Hayato got the Jinki by default as he was the only one actually searching for it."

"…That sounds boring." Kara deadpanned.

"Yea, Minaka thought so too." Takami rolled her eyes. "So he declared the 2nd Round immediately after the first one. This one had 6 contestants but they were all single pairs. For some strange reason, although they all fought hard, only 1 Sekirei was actually terminated, everyone else got away with injuries of various winner was some guy named Ichiro Ikari and his Sekirei number 60, Mai. "

"That one I definitely know." I leaned in a bit. "Has a claymore she is very proficient with and packs a very strong hit. Very durable and has stamina to match too."

"And that's about it." Takami finished with a roll of her shoulders. "After that he said that the next match will happen whenever he feels like it. I am guessing he wants you to participate?"

"Yes." We both nodded.

"Have you talked to Chiho about it yet?" Akitsu asked us, tilting her head to the left slightly.

"Umm…" I focused on the bond and then immediately came back, feeling a hint of red creeping up my cheeks. "She's busy right now. Like, very busy. We'll let her know though, thanks for the update!"

Kara said nothing as she let herself get pulled out of the office and out of the building with a knowing smile. We both headed for the city, trying to stay in the tower right now wasn't the greatest idea right now.


	40. Gate:Plans

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Arbiters!"<p>

"The Arbiters are back!"

"Praise god, the Arbiters are here!"

Exclamations like that were quite common as Kara and I walked the evening streets of Shinto Teito, specifically the Northern Section. I am not sure how we both ended up here, but it honestly doesn't matter where we walk, we are just having a nice stroll right now, just the 2 of us. Still, as we walked, people rejoiced at the sight of our gray haori's with the Sekirei symbol. I think I even saw a few tears of relief, Akitsu really wasn't joking when she said the people of Shinto Teito really appreciated having us back. We even started going by rooftop after a while, tired of the constant exuberance our procession caused.

In the end, we sat down, side by side, our feet hanging off the edge of the roof of some large building as we looked down on a crowded intersection. Before us was the MBI Tower, with that ridiculously over complicated lights system beaming into the skies to create a Sekirei symbol. I honestly rather liked it, I think that when we win and go back, we should install something like this again.

"Sad, isn't it." Kara sighed, her voice strangely quiet. "It would seem like my entire life is devoted to protecting the weak and the pathetic. Why can't I just go and fight someone strong like I want to?"

"Someone has to do it." I hugged Kara with my right arm, bringing the strangely melancholic Sekirei to my side. "That and look at these guys, where are you going to find someone strong to fight? These humans are so pathetic it's hard to even kill them nowadays, it's like fighting a newborn child, and there is absolutely no fight to speak of."

"That still doesn't answer the question why I should protect them." Kara glanced at me with her pale brown eyes strangely dark. "Why I should bother to fight their battles."

"You know," I smiled gently looking at the cloudless sky. "I've had those thoughts too. And the conclusion I came to is this: humans are weak because they are mere children. Children who were left alone to do whatever they wanted to. Children with no guidance. Humankind is a very…malleable race Kara. It's evident if you ever see their history."

"Malleable?" Kara whispered, a spark of understanding coming to life in her eyes. "Then-"

"We can guide them, mold them into whatever we want, Kara." I gestured widely at the packed street before us, humans going onto their day to day lives. "All of them have the potential to become what you seek Kara. They can be guided to realize that potential."

"Was that your actual wish all along?" Kara glanced up at me, stopping. "To guide humanity?"

"I still wish to go back," I replied, staring into her beautiful eyes with determination. "I wish to go back and save my race from Minaka and then guide humanity to their place amongst the stars. Make them worthy of us, because as it stands, humanity is not worthy! Beneath the fragile, thin mask of civility there is a sneer full of malice and evil! It is a miracle that so many good people exist amongst them, but as a whole…"

"I see." Kara nodded, her brow narrowed in thought. "So that is your full wish. I must say…I am not against it. I would like to see this world of yours where humans aren't trash not even worthy of my blade. I will stand with you and help you make something worthy of this race."

I didn't say anything, merely leaned forward and kissed the woman before me, letting my body say it for me. The knowledge that Kara now knew everything and still wished to stay with me was incredible. It was as if someone lifted a weight off of my back that I never knew was there. We were interrupted from our kiss by an uncomfortable cough. Turning back, we were surprised to find Shiina, Homura and their Ashikabi Yukari.

I couldn't help but stare at Homura for a second. Generally, the fire Sekirei walked around in this black outfit with a spiffy cape and a mask with a nice white dress shirt underneath. All in all, he usually looked pretty badass if I may say so myself. However it might look like Yukari had other ideas on what badass might look like. To be honest, I must say she had good taste and overall it was an improvement. The mask less Homura that stood before me in an open black overcoat with dark red flames roaring upwards towards the center of the coat looked pretty damn badass. The black dress pants looked quite interesting in combination with the dark red formal shirt and the coat but honestly, the way he held himself made it all work out quite well.

"Looking good." I finally nodded, breaking the silence.

"Thanks." Homura nodded. He seemed a bit more relaxed than usual, a bit freer? It made sense I suppose, his job as the Sekirei Guardian was now over and he now had an Ashikabi. "I came here when I heard you were back in the city to say this though."

I arched an eyebrow, interested in what the man had to say. We weren't the closest people by far, in fact the only times I've only met him was during my patrols or occasionally in Izumo Inn whenever I – rarely – stopped by. Makes me wonder what he wants to say… I can't tell by looking at Shiina or Yukari, one doesn't seem to care about anything right now – judging by his vacant expression he isn't quite here – while the other is more interested in sneaking glances at both of her Sekirei whenever she thinks they aren't looking. I glanced at Kara beside me to see if she spotted anything, but if she did she wasn't helping, not with that bored expression on her face.

"Thank you for helping me." Homura finally stated, going even as far as to bow to me, causing much surprise on my end. "Thank you for guarding the birds and ensuring that they would find their True Ashikabi. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent most forced winging's."

"There is no need to thank me, Homura." I replied with a faint smile. "The Disciplinary Squad's purpose is to protect our kind after all."

"And yet you work for Minaka." Yukari intervened, a sceptical expression on her face. "If you are truly trying to protect Sekirei, why not stop this stupid game?"

"And why should we do your work for you?" Kara replied back instantly, it would seem that our talk of weaklings still hovered at the edge of her conscience. "If you wish to stop the Sekirei Plan, why aren't you acting? What's stopping you?"

"You are?" Homura replied in an equally heated voice.

"We work to save our race." I said with absolute belief in my voice, causing Yukari and Homura to fall back and listen. "We do not so much as work for Minaka as use him to defend our blind and stupid kin from the dangers far beyond your understanding. We do not stand in your way of stopping the Sekirei Plan, we merely work to protect our race, even if it means that those who seek to destroy it are other Sekirei and we must fight them."

"So if I were to walk up to MBI Tower and go after Minaka you won't stop me?" Homura asked disbelievingly.

"Of course we would." Kara rolled her eyes. "Are you deaf? Rei just told you that we will stop those who threaten our kind and it doesn't matter if they are human or Sekirei."

"How would going after Minaka threaten Sekirei?" Yukari asked with genuine confusion.

"Are you really asking us to tell you top secret information right out of the blue?" I stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously? You have number 02 Matsu, the Sekirei of Wisdom, to help you if you need her and you are here, asking us?"

"But she's Minato's Sekirei…" Yukari's excuse lowered to a mumble as she realized the flaw in her logic. "Erm, right, never mind."

"Anything else?" Kara asked, her voice getting dangerously bored as she began to survey the trio before her in an unhealthy interest. I suddenly remembered how she expressed a wish to meet the ones who fought me on the bridge and Shiina happens to be one of them.

"No, we are leaving." Homura seemed to pick up the danger signs instantly and sprinted off the roof with Yukari in his arms. Shiina followed up instantly, wary of overstaying his welcome.

"Tch." Kara leaned into me with a disappointed sigh. "And there goes my possible entertainment for the night. Pathetic."

"Well," I paused for a second, feeling my bond before nodding with satisfaction. "We can go back now and I'll see if I can't entertain you in that wonderfully soft bed of yours."

"Mmm," Kara smiled as she turned her head to look at me. "That does sound like a good way to fix this evening."

"Isn't it?" I laughed softly as I closed the distance between us and kissed my lover passionately.

* * *

><p>"So I will have to lead you to battle against other Sekirei in 2 days?" Chiho said softly, summarizing what we told her over the breakfast as we all sat at the bar table in the main room of our floor.<p>

When we came in yesterday, the floor was quiet and I could sense Chiho behind the door of her room, her symbol of a White Sun surrounded by Darkness emblazoned on it. The Sun had 5 rays stretching out of it in a star pattern, piercing the darkness. A white milky ray, a blood red ray, a pale blue ray, a faded gray ray and a dark red ray closing up the configuration. All in all, I rather liked it, it fit Chiho, who was the Light of our lives quite well.

Amusingly enough, her room had the largest bed by far; I swear that thing is more of a field then a bed. Apparently it was put to a test yesterday thanks to Chiho, Uzume, Haihane and Beni. From what I understood, Beni and Chiho went in first but halfway through the process, Uzume and Haihane couldn't handle the feelings leaking through their bonds anymore and joined in. My, that must've been a sight to see.

Unsurprisingly, Beni and Chiho turned quite red whenever they met the eyes of any other participants of last night's marathon. And, quite unsurprisingly as well, Uzume and Haihane practically glowed with happiness and were more often than not discussing what happened last night in great detail. I even heard them deciding whether they should edit Haihane's list before ticking it off or should they do everything listed on it first and then edit it.

Thankfully, at this point Kara intervened and said that if they fuck Chiho to death she'll slice them to tiny pieces, slowly, making sure that they stayed alive for as long as possible in the process. She even had her aura gather up around her in giving her the likeness of a hooded, humanoid crow with blades that continuously dripped blood instead of feathers. Those were rather sharp, nasty and evil looking blades truth be told and even I had trouble watching her test run her version of Miya's aura. After my comment that it lacked the Miasma of Absolute Evil and Horror that Miya had, everyone stared at me in disbelief while Kara merely nodded and said she'll add that feature in next time. At this point Uzume fainted and Haihane had to catch her before she hit the floor.

After waking up, Uzume accused me of having the biggest titanium balls of all time. At which point I grew rather confused and said I had no such thing, why would I need them? Even after Uzume puzzling explanation that it was a crude allegory of a man's bravery I was still confused. I am a woman, no? After making sure to clear this particular part of information up with a grinning Kara I turned to state this to Uzume who merely facepalmed and told me to forget it.

Regardless, ignoring that little part, Kara and I decided to fill in our comrades on the upcoming match and how we were to fight in it to get a Jinki. At this point in time, we didn't know where we were going to fight or what the rules were but…

"We will not terminate anyone." Chiho stated this with such strength that it bordered finality. "We will knock them unconscious and then take the Jinki. There is no need to fight them to death, I will not permit it."

"Not sure if that will be possible." We all turned to see a tired Takami walk in, practically carried in by Akitsu who supported the older woman with great care. "I just had a chance glance at his planning chart he left open in his office by accident. I didn't get to do more than glance at it before he came back running and closed it. But judging by the words like '3-way Battle Royale" in the title I think you can expect the worst."

"It would seem that the last man," Akitsu guided her Ashikabi into a chair gently. "Or in this case Ashikabi, will get the Jinki."

"Oh dear." I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "And he wants us to participate in that? How…forgetful of him."

"Eh?" Chiho looked at me in surprise at my choice of words. Beside me, Haihane began to snicker evilly as Beni gave a smile that spoke of great suffering to the subjects of her ire.

"We are here to kill humans." Kara said bluntly. "Not Sekirei. The Disciplinary Squad was created to Discipline humans, not Sekirei."

"I am not sure how that will help you when Minaka orders you to participate." Takami drank a glass of something clearly alcoholic. Great, she's stealing our booze, the nerve of that woman!

"Well, we'll merely have to do something that will ensure he will think 3 times next time before sending us in." Beni laughed darkly, her hands enveloped in a dark red aura.

"It's simple really." Haihane took one of her claws she put by her chair and began to stroke it lovingly. "From what Karasuba and Rei told us, the previous 2 matches were on either MBI island or in a remote location of this city. We'll participate, but the collateral damage will be so great that Minaka will run out of locations to host his little 'tournaments' in very fast."

"We can do that?" Uzume said dubiously. "I mean, sure we are strong and what not but can we cause so much damage that that man will stop having us in the fights?"

"We have the Siege Sekirei right here." I leaned over and pet my students on the head inciting a blush. "I am sure her Norito, whatever it is, will live up to her title. Actually, who here got large Area-of-Effect Noritos? Cause mine, amusingly enough, is single target."

"Oh finally, you got an ability that you need to aim with for once." Haihane grumbled darkly, a flinch passing through her features as she remembered some of my abilities.

"Whatever." I huffed, it's not my fault…wait, no it is, I deliberately researched and practised in such a way that'd make all abilities I learned to be Area of Effect types.

"Well, mine definitely lives up to my name." Beni smiled brilliantly. "In fact, I am hesitant to use it in a city…maybe you'll see why when we do this."

"Perhaps." Kara said offhandedly. "Mine is a ranged Area of Effect that should demolish everything before me. We should try these out somewhere to know exactly what they do."

"That's a good idea…" Uzume muttered. "Mine is erm…a creature? A construct? I don't know how to explain it…I should just show it to you guys."

"Theoretically…" Haihane scratched her head. "Mine lets me fly…theoretically. It's hard to tell, I thought the knowledge would be more clear than do this and this might happen."

"Um, Miss Sahashi," Chiho turned to Takami. "Where can we go and see what the Norito's of my Sekirei really are?"

"I'd suggest flying to Kamikura Island." Surprisingly, Akitsu answered in Takami's place as the woman in question was drinking at the time. "It's barren rock and stone, there's nothing to damage there…so long as you aim the other way from the ship."

"I am also coming with you." Akitsu continued in a tone that suffered no alternatives. "After I put Takami to sleep, I will escort you to Kamikura and ensure you don't go overboard when using the Ultimate ability of Sekirei."

"Going overboard?" Chiho made a cute confused expression. "What do you mean."

"I'll explain while we fly." Akitsu replied before carefully picking up Takami who fell asleep with glass in her hand. "I'll be back soon."

"Uhm, I am sorry I forgot to ask," Chiho turned to us with a nervous expression. "But do you guys have anything to do today? I am sorry, I should've asked before-"

"It's nothing we can't shelf till later." I interrupted after a brief glance at Kara. "We should patrol the city, but considering everyone is busy training up for the next Round I think we can spare a day doing far more important things…"

"Like hanging out with our Ashikabi." Uzume somehow snuck over and embraced Chiho from behind, pushing her Ashikabi's head between her big breasts. "What could possibly be better?"

"Sometimes we have to do what we have to," Beni said somberly. "Not what we want to…"

"Well yes, but," Uzume hugged Chiho tighter, the poor girl squeaking cutely. "Right now we got nothing to do right? And what better things are there then playing around with our beloved Ashikabi in those periods?"

"You got a point there." I smirked before getting out of my chair and making my way over to Kara and draping myself over her. "I do wonder what could possibly be better. Any ideas, Kara?"

Kara simply twisted around on her chair and kissed me passionately, her half closed eyes glinting with amusement. As she and I embraced, holding each other tighter against one another, I could feel Chiho's embarrassment, lust and, strangely, happiness spike and leak through the bond. I could feel Kara's body tense slightly against mine as she must've felt the same. It was odd how such seeing her 2 Sekirei kiss made Chiho happy of all things, I'd have thought she'd want in on the action, and she does, but to a lesser extent.

"Mmm, if we want to go anywhere today I suggest we do it now." Kara mused as we broke apart. "Or else you are risking going without us."

"I must say your idea is growing more enticing by the second." I said seductively as I neared Kara's face, breathing heavily.

"Looks like we aren't going anywhere today." Haihane made her way to Chiho who was still entrapped by Uzume and traced her hand over Chiho's lips gently. "Want to see this list of ours?"

Honestly, the only thing that stopped the whole situation from escalating into a massive orgy was Akitsu's return. That being said, I believe without doubt, that had Kara let her join in, we really wouldn't be going anywhere today…


	41. Gate:Epicenter

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Y-you said you were going to explain Noritos to us?" Chiho asked Akitsu while watching Uzume with a wary eye. To prevent any future distractions, Chiho sat between me and Kara on one side with Uzume and Haihane separated by Beni and Akitsu on the other side of this helicopter. Of course, this didn't really stop Haihane or Uzume from playing a game with Chiho where the one who makes her blush the most wins. Thankfully, they didn't do anything drastic like strip while we were in mid-air but this might be only because when Kara saw Uzume try to pull a fast one with her silk control she scared the living daylights out of everyone else by materializing that raven thing again.<p>

Honestly, I found the thing more impressive than scary. But this could just be because I was so used to Kara's bloodlust and Killing Intent from our years of sparring. Regardless, the fact that it only appeared recently, after Kara's winging, had me thinking. Although Kara has attempted to do this trick before – she was rather impressed with the ability to make anyone shit their pants just by looking at them that Miya had – she could never pull anything but a hazy black aura around herself. To see the abomination so sharply, even if it was still immaterial thankfully, was rather intriguing.

If Kara got such a power boost from Chiho, than how come I wasn't feeling anything? Oh sure, when Chiho got mad back at the lab and ordered us to kill everyone I could feel power flow to me from her but… Honestly, the effects were rather lackluster compared to the boost Kara got. That being said, I haven't actually noticed Beni or Haihane show anything beyond their usual strength either. Was Kara the only one who got such a considerable power up? And if so, why?

That being said, perhaps their boost was the unlocking of their Norito. If it was exceptionally powerful, I could see why their normal form wouldn't get anything. But that wasn't the case with me though. My Norito… I don't know. Much like every other ability I got I couldn't figure out the point of it at first. I still don't know what it truly does and without experimentation I never will, but… That's the problem. My Norito, if I understood what it does correctly, is so powerful that using it on someone just for mere testing is like giving some random person a full sized statue of them in diamond, just because you felt like it.

Still, to think that my Norito was actually a single target-

"Yes, are you ready?" Akitsu interrupted my chain of thought with her soft voice as she somehow managed to command attention and get her words across over the whistle of the wind without raising her voice.

"Yes." Chiho nodded, her full attention on Akitsu.

"Very well," Akitsu closed her autumn eyes for a second before opening them. "Norito, an ultimate ability ingrained in all Sekirei. The pinnacle of their power, some may say."

"Tch, we know all of this…" Beni grumbled, staring at Haihane who sat beside her suspiciously.

"A Norito is only possible to use with a stabilizing element present," Akitsu continued, ignoring Beni. "Such as an Ashikabi. Although it is theoretically possible to use a Norito without an Ashikabi, it is not possible to use it without wings."

"There's a difference?" Kara leaned forward slightly, intrigued.

"Yes." Akitsu turned to face her. "Once a bond is present, nothing short of death of one of the members is enough to remove it. Just its presence is enough to unlock the ability to even use a Norito. That being said,after the use of a Norito without an Ashikabi to stabilize and guide the process, the chances of survival of that Sekirei are 0."

"So, we can't use a Norito without an Ashikabi?" I asked. "Or we can but we'll die afterwards?"

"A Sekirei can use a Norito so long as she is winged." Akitsu elaborated. "However, the weaker – less trained - her Tama is, the greater the chance that it will shatter upon use without a stabilizer that the Ashikabi becomes."

"So, I could use a Norito whenever I feel like it if I train hard enough?" Haihane asked, an odd light in her eyes. Oh right, she seeks power and the ability to use a Norito without an Ashikabi present will definitely set her high up in power ratings.

"With sufficient training, yes." Akitsu nodded. "However, by my and Takami's approximations the Sekirei in question will have to be a Pillar level in strength at the very least. Any less than that and even if their Tama survives, they will deactivate simply from the internal damage they will suffer from using the Norito without a stabilizer. In fact, even a Pillar level Sekirei would have troubles afterwards."

"So not for another hundred years Haihane." Kara smirked at her student's pout. She and I exchanged a glance at this particular bit of information. If what Akitsu said was true, Miya could use a Norito even without an Ashikabi… Although, on a second thought, considering she wasn't winged I would hope that her Norito isnt even accessible to her. Still, we all know Takehito is a genius and if anyone, it would be him to figure out a way for his wife to unleash her ultimate ability…

"So don't use our Norito whenever Chiho isn't around, got it." Uzume nodded. "Anything else?"

"There are a few things." Akitsu nodded. "By the way, just so you know, all of this information is highly classified and Minaka was rather adamant that no one knows of it."

"We care?" I and Kara chorused before looking at each other with a grin.

"I didn't think so." The stoic ice Sekirei merely closed her eyes briefly in recognition. "First of all, and this is extremely important considering you wish to practise your Noritos."

"Chiho." She said sternly, her gaze uncharacteristically sharp as she turned to our Ashikabi who twitched at the suddenness. "An Ashikabi cannot act as a stabilizer for more than 1 Norito per time. If you try to activate 2 Noritos at the same time, your brain wont handle it and you'll die of a massive brain hemorrhage. Meaning all the blood vessels in your brain will explode."

"Well now," Kara glanced at Chiho who turned pale at Akitsu's warning. "This is an extremely important piece of information. Considering how many Ashikabi have more than 1 Sekirei it makes me wonder why Minaka would classify this."

"Don't know." Our teacher for the day shrugged. "Regardless, if you wish to use more than 1 Norito then I'd suggest that you act as a stabilizer for those whose Norito is a quick event. From what I heard, I'd suggest Uzume to be the last one to use Norito as hers doesn't seem like something that lasts for a short time."

"Aww." Uzume pouted even as Chiho nodded intently. "And here I was hoping to show off first."

"I see…" Chiho nodded. "So…probably Benitsubasa first, then Kara, then Haihane, then Rei and finally Uzume?"

"No." I shook my head as everyone turned to me. "I can't use my Norito."

"Why?" Beni leaned over with great interest.

"Because it literally requires a target." I sighed. "From what I understand, I cannot use it on empty space."

"Right," Haihane nodded. "And we don't have anyone here who can be used as target practise."

"Haihane!" Chiho cried out in disapproval.

"What?" The Blue Sekirei turned to her Ashikabi. "I for one don't want to get hit by Rei's Norito. Knowing her, something extremely terrible will happen to me."

"Enough." Kara said quietly before looking at me. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I nodded resolutely. "I'll test it out on someone else later."

"Very well." Kara nodded. "Was there anything else you wished to say Akitsu? We are just about at the island."

"Yes, one final thing." The ice Sekirei surveyed us all before continuing. "A Sekirei can use a Norito once every 28 hours and 49 minutes without excessive harm. Although we haven't tested this out, for obvious reasons, we believe that using a Norito twice in a relatively fast succession, maybe up to 8 hours, will shatter the Tama. The closer the second Norito is to the limit, the less internal damage the Sekirei will suffer. Also, it stands to say that, according to our simulations, we believe that using a Norito before it's so called 'cooldown time' is over compounds the next 'cooldown time'."

"…And what is that supposed to mean?" Beni narrowed her brows in thought, trying to figure out what Akitsu was trying to say. "What do you mean compounds?"

"If you were use a Norito again," Akitsu patiently explained. "In let's say 24 hours, that is 4 hours and 49 minutes beforehand, then the next time you can safely use it again would be in 33 hours, 38 minutes."

"Right, so stopwatches would be a thing." Uzume grinned. "This calls for shopping! Chiho, our stopwatches should totally match."

"B-but why would I need one?" Chiho asked, stuttering in confusion as Uzume derailed her train of thought.

"Because!" Our resident troll said with a gigantic grin. "It would be totally awesome!"

"Landing in 3 minutes!" The pilot's voice rang out in the cabin.

"Anything else?" Kara asked Akitsu who shook her head.

"Um, how do you activate a Norito?" Chiho asked shyly. "Sorry I forgot to ask."

"It's simple." Akitsu replied calmly. "The Sekirei and the Ashikabi kiss, this sets the bond between them into active state. Then, the Sekirei can use her Norito whenever she wants to so long as she is within a reasonable range of her Ashikabi and it hasn't been too long."

"Specifics, please." I asked.

"It varies depending on many factors such as Ashikabi and Sekirei compatibility, strength of the Sekirei, number of Sekirei winged by Ashikabi amongst other things." Akitsu listed off. "Roughly however, Chiho should be within 10 or so kilometers of the Sekirei trying to use her Norito and the time limit should be about an hour."

"Thats...plenty." Haihane mused out loud.

"Hmm, well, if thats all," Kara cupped her chin in thought, no doubt thinking of possibilities of kissing our Ashikabi and then going off to do her business. "Let's get ready, we are about to land."

* * *

><p>"Somehow I should've expected this." I said with my face in the palm of my hand.<p>

"…I think we may have underestimated our students." Kara sighed as she too had her fingers supporting her forehead as if her head suddenly weighted a lot more than it should have.

We stood on an open stone Plato, walls of sharp stone peaks surrounding the fairly small thing. It was only about the size of a football court…I think, it's a bit hard to tell as I've only visited a football court once and considering I had a target to assassinate I didn't get much of a chance to look around. I've heard it was a good game…until I showed up.

Regardless, unlike the chopper that flew off the moment we landed, Akitsu stayed with us and watched intently. Although I am not sure what there is to watch, currently Beni is kissing the living daylights out of our Ashikabi and judging by the feelings we are getting from our bond, Chiho is by far not averse to this. Still, if this is what it comes down to why didn't we just stay in our rooms? They are far more comfortable than these hard rocks.

"Benitsubasa." Kara finally had enough and looked at my student with ill intent leaking off her in waves. It was funny how a single word from our captain was enough for Beni to leap away clumsily from Chiho, her face going from flushed red to pastry white in the space of a second. Now, that can't be good for her circulatory system…

"Gate:Swap." I pulled us all into the other realm after Chiho got in range. There was no point in putting ourselves into harms way. After all, being near the ultimate ability of a Siege Sekirei is…suicidal at worst, stupidity worthy of Darwin's Award at best.

"Right, going." Beni took a deep breath and squared her shoulders after seeing us all safe.

"By the Will of my Ashikabi," She began chanting an aria, her power suddenly erupting from her in a pillar of dark red energy that fed straight into her back in a loop. "Behold her Final Mercy!"

Beni stomped hard, all of her energy suddenly vanishing as the ground around her began to glow brilliant red. However, for a couple seconds nothing happened, Beni merely stood there and the ground glowed and that was it. Or it was until Beni opened her mouth again.

"Epicenter."

"I think this may have been a bad idea." Akitsu said calmly as the entire island began to shake. "I didn't think she'd be powerful enough to cause an earthquake."

Beni however wasn't done, even as the shaking increased at a rapid rate, she stomped again, her power briefly enveloping her for a split moment.

"Shatter!" She called out over the din and then all hell broke loose. The whole Plato and the surrounding rock peaks suddenly had a myriad of cracks shinning with red light running through them. After a split second, they all pulsed and suddenly the whole area was filled with nothing but dust and pulverised rocks. It made it impossible to see in fact. On the positive side, the ground stopped shaking and the earthquake halted.

What a fascinating ability I thought as we all watched the dust slowly settle, the sun barely making it through. At first I thought it was merely an earthquake but she somehow turned it into this and completely obliterated the area! I could safely say, I think, that there isn't a single stone left intact after her ability. I wonder what she did that somehow caused so much damage. She uses shockwaves after all so her causing the earthquake should be the pinnacle of her ability…Or wait, she can stack her shockwaves and then use them at different frequencies to pulverize whatever is caught in her attack. Perhaps this is one of these? But then it doesn't make sense, why not merely send it along the surface? I must be missing something here.

Regardless, the ability was exactly something I'd expect from Beni. Extremely slow but overwhelmingly powerful. Something that's difficult to use in a duel but is damn near unparalleled for destroying structures and fortifications. Overall, her Norito took about 10 seconds to execute but if anyone was stupid enough to still be standing in the area of her Ultimate ability I doubt there'd be even a paste left of them.

"You guys okay?" Beni called out with a cough. "I can't see anything, there's so much dust."

"We are fine." I replied for all of us. "We should be out in about a minute."

"Oh great." Haihane grumbled. "I'll get dust in all of the wrong places now thanks to that barbarian.

"Oi!" Beni's called out. "I heard that!"

"And I don't care!" Haihane yelled back and took a deep breath only to choke as my ability chose that exact moment to transfer us back. "G-ghod d-dhamn it."

"Tch." Kara drew her sword slowly and then slashed around us, the air blasted back by the strength of her swing. "Better."

"…"

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at our looks of awe. Even Beni, who get hit by the majority of the dust chose to ignore that to look at the woman who just blasted aside all of the dust near us like some anime hero. "My turn."

"Oh…good." Beni let her tension drain from her body and swayed, her eyes half closed. I dashed over and picked her up just before she fell. Tired, the smaller girl in my arms gave me a thankful smile and immediately fell asleep. Hmm, it would seem as if using a Norito has consumed all of her energy, I wonder if we'll have the same problems.


	42. Gate:Norito

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>As I walked back to the group, I took my time to survey our new surroundings. Well, we were still on a Plato but now it seems like the surrounding rock cliffs have moved away slightly. Or rather, the ones near us were pulverized into…<p>

I knelt down and grabbed a handful of the ground while clutching Beni to my chest.

"Sand?" I let the black particles fall from my hand. Yea, reminder to self, never get caught by Beni's Ultimate. She turned the entire Plato into sand and dust, there wasn't a single intact rock anywhere within the rather large radius. Interesting to see the sand formed was black though, I don't know the actual difference but isn't normal sand generally golden or white in color? Regardless, I walked over to the group where the smiling Kara wasted no time in picking up our smaller Ashikabi and silencing the squeaking girl with a passionate, long kiss.

"Khmm." I turned to look skyward innocently, ignoring Kara's less than amused glance as she stopped trying to suffocate our extremely red Ashikabi whose eyes grew quite misty. Ignoring the feelings I got from our bond I instead focused on Kara who walked a bit forward and glanced back at me. Nodding from the silent command, I took us all back into the Spirit Realm as we watched Kara from a safe place.

"By the Order of my Ashikabi," Kara chanted, drawing her sword. All around her, black miasma poured out of her and gave her an appearance of a giant humanoid crow. In fact, it was practically the same as her variant of Miya's scare tactic. Except this one was very much material as it formed a solid shroud of utter evil and horror around Kara, its wings of hundreds black swords dripping blood and pitch black miasma. Looks like she took my words to heart and improved her…Norito. Seriously, I knew Kara was ridiculously strong but to be able to project a shadow of her Norito without any trouble was insanity. Also, somehow I think that Miya uses another tactic to bring out her masks of terror upon those she dislikes…

"All who stand in the way of her sword," Kara continued, the form around her rapidly turning corporeal, giving Kara the look of a humanoid crow with wings of swords. Kara raised her sword above her head, her wings stretching to the sky in their gigantic glory. They must've been at least two dozen meters in wingspan and considering each feather is an evil, cursed sword…

"Die." With that simple command, Kara slashed down and suddenly, her wings pulsed and were gone leaving a field of swords before Kara, shot at such speeds that all I saw was a faint blur. I don't think I'd be able to dodge something like a field of swords flying at a speed faster than I can see. Judging by the looks of absolute awe around me neither did they. The whole field of pulverised stone created by Beni was now covered with black swords that seemed to disintegrate the ground around them with black miasma. It was interesting how Kara's Ultimate Ability was a ranged attack that covered everything in front of her when she has extreme struggles with any ranged normal abilities.

"Field of Raven God." Kara sheathed her sword and in that moment, all of the black swords pulsed and shattered, each one turning into a shrapnel grenade that filled the field with an uncountable amount of black shards. I have no doubt that each one was as deadly as the swords it came from.

"Well, that's obviously an Anti-Army type." Haihane muttered as I rolled my eyes, of course Haihane would liken it to that anime of hers she's obsessed about. Really, who the hell names their anime as a bunch of nonsensical words?

Unlike Beni, Kara merely sagged a bit and that was it. She just used an Ultimate Ability that turned the Plato before her into Swiss cheese of craters and she was only a bit tired. Not for the first nor last time, I thought just how close Kara is to Miya in power levels. As it stands, I am not sure anymore if Kara's conviction that Miya would obliterate her still holds. Unlike Kara who has trained for years and decades with hard work, constantly evolving her power, from what I know from Takehito, Miya only occasionally trains to keep her power from completely rusting.

That being said, if Miya truly does have a Norito then just her status as a Pillar alone might be enough to wipe the floor with Kara if they fight.

"My turn!" Haihane turned to Chiho the instant the barrier fell and we were swapped back into the Living Realm. Catching the girl offguard, Haihane not only kissed all sense out of her but also used the moment to feel up her Ashikabi, pulling back only when she caught mine and Kara's unamused glares.

"Huh…" Haihane paused on the edge as Kara passed her to walk to us. She seemed to be busy feeling something deep in her. "…That sucks."

As we all turned to Haihane she turned back to Kara.

"Apparently my Norito is a simple self-enhancement so can we do a spar?" Well, that was obviously a right thing to say judging by the size of the grin on Kara's face. I sighed thinking about if I should swap us over but then decided against it. I just don't see Haihane using anything that is of any real Area of Effect, she just wasn't trained that way. I wonder if Haihane, empowered by her Norito, will be able to fight a tired Kara evenly. We'll see I guess but…

"With my Ashikabi's Fury," Haihane recited her aria, a powerful wind enveloping her and causing Chiho to giggle as Haihane's gray hair grew quite windswept. "I am unleashed upon her enemies. Wind Wraith!"

The hurricane suddenly seized and disappeared and Haihane was left alone. Although it could be clearly seen that she's under effects of something as her hair gently floated about her randomly and she was…levitating. I had to blink and look again but no, Haihane was actually levitating, her feet were not touching the ground. As well, Haihane began difficult to look at as if there was a bubble of something around her that caused her features to be quite hazy at times and then crystal clear the next moment.

"Here I go!" Haihane called out before she dashed at Kara with such speed that I had great trouble following her movement. Strangely enough, she wasn't moving her legs, she simply moved through the air like friction and air resistance didn't exist. She wasn't quite moving fast enough to match me or Kara yet but as we watched it seemed like she got the hang of her abilities and limitations as the speed of the fight began to rapidly increase. Kara even gained a satisfied smile as she stood her ground, forcing Haihane to dash about her in hopes of penetrating her defences.

Alas for poor Haihane, neither her speed nor her increased mobility helped much against Kara's sheer skill and overwhelming combat experience. Having fought against another person who uses dual melee weapons – cough, looks away – for years, Kara could simply predict where and when Haihane would strike. Even as Haihane flew about her with ever increasing speed like a whirlwind – to the point where I couldn't even see her anymore, only a blur – Kara not only parried every single strike but she also managed to strike out at her student, keeping her back.

Suddenly, Haihane broke free and floated to hang a dozen meters above Kara, well inside her jump and Distant Blade ranges. Before we had a chance to ask what she was thinking, a barrier of wind blades formed around the Blue Sekirei who dashed at Kara with insane speeds. Thankfully, considering that she didn't have enough distance to pick up enough speed, Kara dodged with ease. However, we all looked with wide eyes as Haihane slammed into the ground and disappeared in a giant tunnel only to burst out maybe 10 meters away in spray of sand a split second later, her bladed barrier still around her. This time, Kara didn't bother to dodge and simply swatted Haihane away with her blade, that black miasma covering her form again for a brief moment.

"Pretty good." Kara admitted as Haihane climbed out of another hole, spitting out the black sand that got into her mouth. "It is good to see that you took my warning that you need to learn to fly seriously. However, until you practise enough to control your Norito finely, you are to stop sparring with Rei though. I don't want someone as promising as you to get cut in half by Rei's Gates by accident because you don't know how to use your Norito yet."

Haihane only had the strength to nod before she keeled over. Kara, with a satisfied smile, walked over and grabbed her student before slugging her disciple over her shoulder.

"Thank gods I am your student." Beni shuddered as she looked at Kara approaching, still safe within my encircled arms. I glanced downwards in surprise. It would seem that she woke up some time ago but because I was so busy looking at Haihane's Norito I didn't notice. Although, now that I think about it, thanks to the fact that we didn't have to Swap over to the other side, maybe she was awake to witness Kara's Norito too. Because I didn't have to draw my sword to Swap us, I didn't check if Beni was awake or not.

Regardless, it was now Uzume's turn. Turning to her, I raised an eyebrow but got a shake of the head in return. Hmm, it seems like Uzume thinks that we will be fine without going to Spiritual Realm.

"Chiho, baby," Uzume called softly to attract the attention of her Ashikabi who was fussing over Haihane, worried about her Sekirei. The moment she turned, Uzume kissed her, but unlike prior kisses which were all full of passion and lust, this one was a chaste yet extremely loving one into which Uzume poured all of her gentleness into. "I am going."

"Alright." Chiho breathed out, looking at her first Sekirei with eyes full of love.

"Enshroud the world," Uzume said the moment she stood a good distance away from us, in the middle of one of the larger craters that now littered the grounds. "The Will of my Ashikabi."

We watched with open mouths as a gigantic cocoon burst into being around her and grew to the size of a ten story building in a matter of seconds. By the 6th second, the thing cracked open and revealed a gigantic spider made of silk in place of Uzume. In fact, we couldn't see her anywhere, just the monstrosity that she spawned into being. The spider shook itself slightly, all stray strands of the cocoon merging with it.

"Woah." Haihane woke up and now stared at the condo building sized spider that towered over us. "I see I missed something important."

"Only Uzume's Norito." Beni rolled her eyes even as she stared warily at the arachnid before her. The arachnid in question was currently surveying its limbs and body as if it saw it for the first time. Which, if Uzume truly became the thing as I suspect, it very well might. And then the thing moved and we all felt our jaws drop once more. Even Akitsu, who was merely watching everything up until now in silence muttered something that strangely sounded like 'impossible'.

I wouldn't blame her, honestly, seeing something that gigantic move so fast and smooth was insane. She may not have been as fast as Haihane and I bet Kara and I could be faster, but who expects a multistory building sized spider to move fast enough for a regular human to see a blur? In a flash of white, the gargantuan spider was now towering over the peaks still left intact. They were few and much further away than the original ones but considering the entirety of the Northern section of Kamikura Island was nothing but rock peaks I don't think we'll run out any time soon.

Or we might, I reflected as we all watched Uzume smash and pulverize the cliffs and sharp peaks without any effort whatsoever. She merely swiped at them with her gigantic frontal legs and they were just gone, ripped out and shattered to rubble. I think, just by watching her play around and smash half the island, we all felt a bit underpowered in comparison. Granted, I think Beni could rip it to shreds with her Norito, but I somehow doubt the gigantic spider that could move a kilometer in a couple of quick leaps will stay the 10 seconds required for Beni's Norito to activate.

Kara wouldn't have trouble ripping through it even in her normal state but I honestly should stop comparing people to Kara. It was just not fair in any way. I'd probably destroy it too but only thanks to my abilities and even then it would certainly be a very interesting fight, especially if that thing can regenerate. Haihane's speed could easily overwhelm it but I bet Uzume has a few tricks up her sleeve too in that form of hers.

Like having her open her mouth and suddenly a barrage of silk lances lashed out at supersonic speeds. We all watched in silent amazement as she shredded a small mountain with that particular feature. As we watched the spider rampage across half the island, performing acrobatics and leaps as she jumped nearly 100 meters into the air only to land and cause the entire island to shake, the problem came from the one place we least expected it. As Chiho suddenly coughed and collapsed, we all turned to her in worry, noticing how hot she was and the sweat that soaked her clothes. She also had a bit of blood dribbling from her nose. She was literally burning up and we didn't know why…wait…

"Uzume!" I yelled before dashing over to the spider that slowed down and began looking around. "Uzume! Cancel that form! Chiho can't hold on much longer!"

The spider paused for a brief instant and then suddenly exploded, silk strands going literally everywhere, making it seem like it was snowing. As I looked in awe at the spectacle, a small form landed near me and dashed to grab me by my shoulders. Looking down I saw a breathless Uzume who stared at me with distressed eyes.

"What's wrong with Chiho?" She asked desperately.

"Calm down, its fine now." I smiled at the Sekirei in understanding. For Uzume, whose life is literally Chiho, anything that is wrong with her Ashikabi is directly wrong for Uzume as well. "Remember how Akitsu said that Chiho is our stabilizer? We just used too many Noritos in a short period of time."

The reason why I was so calm was that I was currently focusing on my bond, feeling Chiho's condition through it. The feeling of stressed pain that we all managed to somehow overlook as we watched Uzume practically evaporated once Uzume transformed back and I think Chiho will be coming back to us any moment now.

"Uzume!" Chiho's tired voice called out and we hurried back to the girl who lay on Akitsu's knees, the icy Sekirei's cool hands on her forehead.

"You were awesome!" Chiho smiled as she laid there, her Sekirei around her.

"Thank you." Uzume fell to her knees and took her Ashikabi's hand. "A-are you okay?"

"She's merely tired." Akitsu replied instead. "She had to act as a stabilizer for a very long time and for several Noritos. Although yours stressed her more than any others, it was a given considering yours lasted far longer."

"T-then it was me-" Uzume paled before Chiho raised her other hand and reached over to silence her Sekirei.

"Its fine, Uzume." Chiho smiled brilliantly. "This is how I can be useful to you all. If I have to suffer a little fever for it then it doesn't matter to me, I'll do it regardless."

"Aside from its effects on Chiho," Kara mused as she stood over Chiho on her left. "Your Norito is definitely something that is extremely useful and powerful."

"B-but Chiho-!"

"Silence." Kara looked at Uzume coldly. "If you dare to disrespect your Ashikabi's will then you will make sure to destroy your targets quickly and efficiently to reduce the strain Chiho will undergo to stabilize your Norito. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes." Uzume swallowed hard as she watched Kara warily for any sign of that black miasma of evil.

"I-it's fine, Karasuba." Our Ashikabi shrank back slightly when Kara's withering glare shifted to her. "She's only concerned for me."

"Your will is our command." Kara said as a matter of fact. "Once you command us to do something, it is our duty to fulfill it."

"Unless it's a stupid command." I snickered.

"Regardless, we trust your judgement." Kara rolled her eyes at me and stared at Chiho hard. "If you order us to use a Norito then we trust that you know what you are doing. If you order Uzume to use that spider form of hers, then we believe that you know your limits."

"I…I understand." The small girl nodded. "Uzume, I'll be fine. I'll make sure I know my limits."

"Good." I smiled brilliantly at our Ashikabi before sitting down before her and gently picked her up. "I think we are done here, no?"

"Yes, I think it's time to leave." Akitsu nodded as she reached for her headpiece that she stylized as frost flake earrings. "By the time we get back it will be nearly nightfall."

"That was so cool, sister Uzume!" We all paused and looked at the holographic image of a small red haired girl who stared at the silk Sekirei with stars in her eyes. No, literally, she somehow made her pupils look like pentagrams… combined with her naturally red eyes it was actually a bit creepy. "I think your Norito is the best!"

"And you are?" Akitsu asked calmly, taking the fact that someone just hacked my phone and took my holographic projector for a joyride in stride.

"I am number 109, Dai!" The cheerful girl waved at the ice Sekirei.

"I see, I am former number 07, Akitsu." The older woman introduced herself before glancing back at us. "Number 109? I see, so that's why you were gone for so long."

"Hi Dai!" Chiho smiled at the red girl. "How are you? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, yes, everything is fine, don't worry!" Dai waved her hands wildly with a smile. "I got 110, 111 and 112 helping me out after all!"

"You still haven't named them?" Chiho frowned. "Calling them only numbers isn't nice…"

"As far as I know, Dai is the only one who got her name before she underwent her Initiation." I casually replied in Dai's place.

"Ah, I see." Chiho nodded. "Still, Dai why did you call now, with Lady Akitsu here? What if something bad happened?"

"Don't worry!" Dai grinned. "I studied everyone of importance who MBI had information on. I know Akitsu won't betray us!"

"Also," Dai's grin turned impish. "Did you know that Rei is involved in a love triangle with Akitsu and Karasuba while Akitsu is also involved with Takami?"

"I-what?!" Chiho stared at me, Kara and Akitsu incredulously.

"Number 109," Akitsu looked at our little sister, a cold chill suddenly sweeping through us all. "I'll meet you eventually. And when I do…"

"Right, sorry!" Dai cringed under Akitsu's glare. "Um, bye!"

Even as she disappeared, a giant hexagonal icicle appeared where she just stood, its razor sharp edges making me twitch. As we all looked at Akitsu, she merely pulled on her vacant expression and tried to look harmless. Right…

"Hey Rei." Uzume asked a short while later as we all stood, waiting for the helicopter to pick us up, Chiho still in my hands. "So what is your Norito?"

"It's…difficult to explain." I finally yielded under the eyes of everyone present. "I may have never explained this, but I have only 1 true ability."

"What do you mean?" Kara looked at me strangely. "I've seen you use all sorts of abilities."

"I only have 1 true ability, Gate:Open." I shook my head. "Everything else is a combination of different ways I use Gate:Open. For example, Gate:Swap is me drawing Gate:Open in a closed circle and then using another Gate:Open on it. Or Gate:Nova is me drawing 2 closed circles of Gate:Open in practically the same area as a stack and then using another Gate:Open on the result."

"Are you saying that you only have 1 real ability and everything else we saw you do was merely a perversion or combination of the original?" Haihane stared at me with huge eyes. "Damn and I thought I had it bad with my few abilities."

"Regardless," I waved aside their looks of wonder. "My Norito is another true ability, bringing my total count of actual abilities to 2."

"So what does it actually do?" Beni voiced out the general question.

"I… am not sure." I replied truthfully. "I'll probably test it out tonight after Chiho recovers."

"I am going with you." Kara's solid tone silenced the rest who also looked interested. It was clear that Kara wanted it to be just me and her although for what reasons, I don't know. Still, I am not adverse to this. Kara is the only person in this entire world who I trust explicitly and letting her see my Norito is of no problem. In fact, she might even pick up on something or help me experiment with it as the general feeling I got when my Norito unlocked with my wings was far too vague to tell me what it actually does.

I smiled faintly with silent thanks at Kara as we the chopper landed before us and we climbed in, all of us save for me and Akitsu tired and weary of using our Ultimate abilities. I even offered Kara a lap to sleep in as we flew which she accepted with casual grace. We both knew that our test run of my Norito might be a business where we'll need Kara rested and somewhat recovered.


	43. Gate:Nightmare

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Wish I could draw... Sometimes my muse sends me crystal clear images or even videos of scenes for me to write out. This one was one of such videos and gods was it hard to express it... I still think it could've been done better but after rewriting it a couple times I gave up.

* * *

><p>"Was this what you expected?" Kara asked as we both looked at a man who lay on the ground before us, tied up. It was deep night at this point and the only thing that provided light in this small alley was a backdoor light to some pub or something along those lines. The trash squirming before us was picked for the sole reason he was near a light, it would be far more trouble to have to hunt down someone and then drag them over to the nearest light source.<p>

"I feared as much…" I sighed, feeling the tiredness seep in. Using a Norito not only made me feel like my Tama was about to overheat but it also drained much of my energy and power upon use. I was nowhere near as tired as Beni or Haihane but I wasn't exactly skipping around like Kara or surprisingly Uzume. Speaking of which, it was rather odd how Uzume was perfectly fine after her Norito, even after spending about 10 minutes playing around with it. Perhaps her Norito drains Chiho instead? It would make sense as to why Chiho could barely move after Uzume canceled her Norito.

"Hmm." Kara stooped over the human trash with a frown on her face, examining the faint light blue sheen around him. "And it really does what you say it does?"

"Well, might as well test it." I sighed and drew my sword. The human had barely a chance to widen his eyes before my sword went right through his forehead. I wrenched it out and watched the pale blue effects of my Norito take place.

"Fascinating." Kara drew her own sword and slashed at the man several times. "I think your Norito might be more powerful than mine or Uzume's."

"Hardly." I frowned and kicked the body before us. "Useful, true, but hardly powerful."

"So what do you wish to do with this now?" Kara poked the object of my experimentation with her sword. "I don't think we can just leave this trash here…"

"Dismemberment, bag and a couple big boulders." I shrugged. "Should be enough for the immediate future."

Kara nodded as I took out a backpack I took with me and set to work doing what I was planned out to do. Honestly, it was a lot more troublesome than it sounds; my Norito was certainly something beyond what I was expecting. By the end of it I gave up the dismemberment portion and merely tied the body up tighter with several boulders, making sure that they'd stay on, and put it in a sack.

"We should get going," Kara yawned as we both sat on the edge of the bridge looking at the full crimson moon floating above the river. "I got a message from Minaka that he has a something he'd like for us to do tomorrow."

"Isn't it still our break?" I frowned as I got up. "Last day and all?"

"Yes, but he said it couldn't wait." Kara made a sound of disapproval. "Has to do with our status as Arbiters or something like that."

"Hmm, that does sound important." I acknowledged as we walked down the dark streets of Shinto Teito towards the great tower that loomed over everything else menacingly.

* * *

><p>"To think that this could happen in mere 4 days we were gone." I grumbled as Kara and I walked down a street of Shinto Teito next day, the sun once more closing in on the horizon. "Gods, what a fucked up day."<p>

"Well, at least we got to fight." Kara said whimsically, smiling briefly before frowning. "Somewhat…"

"Yea, I saw that girl kill herself on your sword." I sighed, I wasn't even joking, who the hell charges Kara at top speed with bare fists while she clearly has a sword pointing in your direction? Needless to say, Kara's surprise was so great that she barely had the time to move her blade away from the girl's Tama to pierce her heart instead.

"Tch." Was Kara's response as we walked on.

I never thought the day would go so downhill when we walked in as the entire Disciplinary Squad into Minaka's office at 10 am. Honestly, the news he dropped on us were so out there that I stood for a moment, thinking how the hell did I not account for the possibility of this happening? I mean, sure, Kara was as surprised as I was but we could've thought this would've happened.

A human's instinctual response to danger they believe they can't deal with is to seek help. Safety in numbers and all of that bullshit. So it should've been obvious that the obvious overwhelming might of the Disciplinary Squad as well as the power of the other 4 major players would call for some sort of a response. We, as a whole with Minaka included, didn't actually mind that about 2 dozen Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs banded together under the leadership of a certain Himura Youichi.

No, we didn't mind that there was now an alliance that could potentially be strongest in the whole Plan. Minaka didn't mind as he thought it added a bit of flavour to his mad plan while we didn't mind because we thought that they'd keep Minaka busy. What we all failed to realize however, was that this Himura was a coward. Honestly, he put weeks' worth of work into creating this alliance only to use it instantly on one mission: to escape Shinto Teito.

How fucking pathetic. He could've become a new major player to this plan, a new piece that would force Minaka to spend time planning it out. Instead he sends all of his assembled 'allies' in a single, suicidal head on attack at a city perimeter to break through and run. What a fool.

Their downfall was their lack of coordination. As a newly made alliance, none of them particularly trusted each other nor worked with each other. As such, it took them two whole days to gather their forces into one fist near the edge of the North sector. 2 Days too long, Minaka spotted the odd conglomeration by the evening of the first day and by the morning of the second; we were briefed on the situation.

Truthfully, it was Himura's failure as a planner that really got them spotted. Had they met somewhere other than Northern sector, Minaka might've missed them. But considering that MBI can keep track of most Sekirei in this city and considering that Northern sector is very poor on signatures… It was rather easy for Minaka to glance at the map and then wonder what the hell was going on. There was a reason no one went North. It had to do with things like Miya and the fact that last time people went there, 16 Sekirei wound up dead and quite a few civilians with them. I mean, it's still all over the news, days later. Of course, MBI covered it up with some BS and the Sekirei weren't actually mentioned but everyone who needs to know, knows.

However, even with his failure as a planner, Himura had a chance of success. There were 2 points he could've went to. Well, 3 really but no one thought he'd go for the 3rd as I proved how bad trying to escape across a bridge is. So, what we did was split up. Me and Kara would secure the smaller waypoint which had a significantly lower MBI presence while Chiho, Uzume, Beni and Haihane went to the larger checkpoint which was commanded by Specialist Captain Anton. Oh, and Anton mined the bridge just in case.

Anyway, had Himura done some scouting and then attacked Anton instead, they might've had a chance to overwhelm them…provided Chiho didn't empower Uzume, Beni or Haihane with a Norito. Now that I think about it, having either Beni or Uzume use a Norito in a city will result in catastrophic collateral damage. Just the thing we need for tomorrow's fight.

Moving back to the topic of the assault. It was rather funny to see this wave of Sekirei in all of their outfits and weapons with their Ashikabi in tow approach us in arrogance. To see Himura move out and tell the MBI soldiers to surrender with a sneer. And then see that sneer just slide straight off his face and turn into paleness so white that it was worthy of a corpse long dead.

The moment Kara and I walked out from behind the barricades, several Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs just straight up gave up and ran instantly, not even bothering to stand and fight. Even though we gave the option to yield, Himura ordered the attack anyway. So Kara and I charged them, taking the fight to them.

It was chaos in its purest form. Himura was an absolute imbecile. He threw 26 Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs into the fight without them knowing anything about each other. Without them knowing who does what or even what their preferred range is. They didn't trust each other; they didn't care about each other. The first time someone pulled out a Norito and ended up nearly completely destroying another Sekirei caught in friendly fire by accident, me and Kara had to not only watch out for the actual Noritos coming it, but also that they won't result in Level 5 terminations on those caught in friendly fire.

Had they showed anywhere near the teamwork and cohesion the team I fought at the bridge showed, we would've been steamrolled, Kara's power or not. Surviving a single Norito is difficult business but when your enemies got 26 of them? I trust Kara to be powerful enough to survive maybe 3 Noritos at point blank considering the general weakness of our enemies, but if they had anyone even near our level, their Norito would've wrecked us. I mean, sure I dodged the Ultimate Sekirei abilities by phasing into Spirit Realm but Kara couldn't do that and she was too far for me to get to her on time for each Norito that was fired at us.

Yea, that fight was nowhere near as fun for me as it was for Kara. That being said, I am rather proud that I managed to get through it without a single Termination! Granted, there was no need for me to do so, most of the Sekirei actually died to friendly fire rather than to me or Kara. It honestly wasn't that hard, the morons kept coming at me and all I had to do was phase into the Spirit Realm and watch them kill each other.

I was rather pissed to learn that 14 Sekirei were deactivated in that fight, all Level 3 or 4. Praise the gods there were no Level 5s but there were several close ones from what Akitsu told me. The rest of those involved ran away, some of them with wounds. In fact, they broke and ran at the same time the first Ashikabi began dying. Once again, it wasn't our fault but some of the Noritos sent our way were damn Anti-Army by Haihane's classification! Using those in close quarters combat with your allies everywhere is so stupid I just don't even have words to describe it.

Some of the Noritos sent our way were actually quite interesting, there was this one in particular that sent everyone in the area to sleep. I dodged it while in Spirit Realm and Kara, although it took her a second, simply resisted it with her aura.

Speaking of which, I am now very cautious of sparring with her. That aura of hers, after she got her wings and did her Norito, is now a virtual imitation of her Norito, just without the wings of uber death and destruction. The corrosive miasma stayed though - weakened somewhat - and some of the wounds caused by her sword that practically dripped with that stuff were terrifying to behold. So yea, I am in no hurry whatsoever to spar with her anymore if she brings that thing out, I rather like having all of my pieces still with me. Unlike that girl that got clipped by Kara's sword and then looked like her wound got splashed with acid. Her screams even got through the din of the fight for a while before her Ashikabi ran through the explosions and everything and saved her. I was rather impressed by the luck of that black haired boy; he got nearly killed by 6 separate misaimed abilities before he got to his Sekirei and saved her.

Even now, as we walked I glanced occasionally at her sword warily. That thing got its share of blood today and by the gods was it a horrific weapon when empowered by Kara's new ability. I don't even want to ask how many Sekirei fell to it today…

Despite the terrible nature of the fight and the fact that a good city block has been redesigned into rubble of various sizes, the fight only lasted about 10 minutes from start to end. After the remnants of the group broke and ran, Minaka called us and demanded to see the moron responsible for this mess. Preferably alive, but he understands if all we can do is bring his head in a bag. I myself fully intended on butchering the bastard the moment I see him. Really, here we were trying our hardest to stall the plan and keep as many Sekirei alive as possible and then we have this dumb fucker show up out of nowhere and lead the biggest force of Sekirei ever assembled straight to their doom.

Honestly, to lead a force of 26 Sekirei into a pointless battle and then proceed to lose over half of them in minutes due to stupidity was practically heresy in my eyes. Each Sekirei has the potential to become a force entire armies would fear to cross – as proven by Beni, Haihane and recently Uzume as well as some of the other Sekirei. When I looked at the dead bodies of my kin and those still alive, moaning in agony; I was severely tempted to go get Homura and hunt the asshole responsible down to the ends of the Earth if I had to. Homura would be quite a useful being on this hunt, not only is he a walking campfire but I bet he could do a very nice barbeque too.

Despite Kara's half-hearted objections that we should hunt now, I stayed and administered what first aid I could to those still alive. Makeshift bandages and what not to try and keep whoever I could alive before MBI evacuation helicopters got on site.

I noticed one peculiar trait as I did what I could. The weaker or more hurt a Sekirei was, the fiercer their Ashikabi were in defending them – provided they were able at the moment. Several even charged me with makeshift weapons, trying to defend their downed bond-mates that lay in pools of their own blood.

Impressive as it were, it was also quite a nuisance to me when I tried to bandage my kin before they completely bled out. Seeing what I was doing, the other Ashikabi relented and started doing what over first aid they knew. Actually, I was a bit biased here; several Sekirei also came to me, their wounded Ashikabi in their arms, injured from the friendly fire. And then there were of course those Ashikabi who lost their Sekirei too. Out of the 14 Sekirei that fell, only 4 Ashikabi died with them, the rest had to weather the feedback from their bond broken. It was easy to spot them, sitting on the ground with blank eyes, unblinking. Staring into nothing, comatose. And those were just the ones who got paralyzed by the shock; some of the Ashikabi already killed themselves, unable to take the pain.

I bit my lip as we walked, thinking back to the scene we just left. It was something straight out of hell I think. Even I, with my experience in creating such nightmares found it difficult to control myself.

Rubble, big and small, was everywhere. The city block was turned into shattered concrete and twisted metal with only a few lucky buildings still standing, full of holes like Swiss cheese. Everywhere, there was blood and bodies, over and under the rubble, in pools of blood and in graves of cold stone. All around, Sekirei, Ashikabi and civilians wandered, lost or searching for their loved ones or tending to those lucky enough to survive. And wails of despair and agony rising to the cold blue skies above the nightmare.

Contrary to her whining, Kara turned out to be a great field medic much to my surprise. Her skills in this field were far beyond my clumsy attempts to stop the bleeding and keep body parts in roughly the area they were supposed to be in. With a couple support type Sekirei who stayed in the back and were lucky enough to be unharmed in the madness, we worked hard to treat the wounded that people kept bringing in.

It was horrifying really, I thought as we walked, so much damage, destruction and death in only 10 minutes of combat. In those 2 hours that we spent trying to save whoever we could as MBI scrambled everything it could to get to us and transfer the wounded to nearby hospitals, I learned one thing. I learned that I really hated feeling helpless.

I couldn't help but slip into the nightmares, images of the horror and bitter powerlessness I felt flashing before me once more.

A woman, whose face was nothing but a mask of blood and tears, wearing what used to be nice clothes stumbled around, clutching a child to her chest. The child, so mangled that I couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl. So injured was the child that it was by far easier to list off what wasn't broken or ripped or shredded. And yet, despite all odds, the kid still breathed and still called for its mother to make the pain go away. And me, who stood there looking on, helpless to do anything as the woman walked around on the rubble, her shoes long gone, calling for help, for anyone to help her dying child. But those who could listen, those who weren't busy trying to do what they could for those they could help, only looked on, unable to do anything. Afraid that the child would die the moment they touched it.

I clenched my hands, the metal groaning in protest as Kara looked over in concern, yet another scene appearing before me, another nightmare of my failure.

A Sekirei, a proud and strong woman I fought for a brief period of time in the chaotic battle, – her lack of wounds attesting to her skill – sat on the rubble, not caring for the sharp fragments that bit into her fair skin. In her lap lay a richly dressed young man, barely older than Minato, his left arm and leg both missing, torn off by rogue ability no doubt. Despite his mortal injuries, the raven-haired man was smiling and I overheard him say to his Sekirei gently, that had he lived 7 lives more, he'd fall in love with her all over again, 7 times more. The woman smiled through her tears and leaned over to kiss her True Ashikabi, one final time. Her steel wings startled the surrounding people but all they could do was look on, like I did, – cursing my inability to do anything – as her wings faded and the Sekirei fell over, her hand still holding her bond-mate's in death. The sun glinted off the 2 golden rings on their intertwined fingers, causing me to blink and look away.

"Hey…" Kara waved her hand in front of my face, but I didn't see it, trapped in my nightmares, seeing the results of that horrible fight once more.

Just across the street from me was yet another pair, a schoolgirl still in her school uniform and her Sekirei, a young boy no older than she was. The teary girl did everything she could to help the red haired boy but it was far too little as the grievously injured Sekirei lay in an ever widening pool of his own blood. The young Sekirei raised his hand, trying to reach for his Ashikabi's face for one last time, but his strength failed him and his hand went limp even as the girl caught it. She stared at his face in disbelief for a moment before she let go, clutching her head and screeched in absolute agony, the sound piercing through the general din like a knife through hot butter. Suddenly, she stopped and a look of calm appeared on her face. Before anyone could as much as twitch, she grabbed her Sekirei's rapier and drove it through her own heart with such force that the guard touched her breast. With her last effort, she brought the dead body of her Sekirei to her chest and muttered with her dying breath, smiling serenely.

"Together, forever and ever."

I came back from my memories to find myself in Kara's arms as we stood on the street, the shorter woman holding me. I blinked, wondering why everything was so foggy and unclear and realised with a start that I was crying.

"Shhh now," Kara whispered to me, her face resting on my metal breastplate. "It's alright, it's over now. We are going to find the person responsible and we are going to make him pay."

"T-thank you." I swallowed hard as I embraced my lover back. "For being here, with me."

"Tch." Kara huffed. "As if I'd be anywhere else. Come, you wanted to grab Homura before we hunt."

"Y-yea." I slowly detached myself from Kara, her pale brown eyes looking at me with worry making me look away. I…hated worrying Kara. She rarely did it but when she did, it just didn't seem right to have that kind of look on her face. It hurt me, to see it.

"I'll be fine." I closed my eyes briefly and started to walk once I opened them. Kara gave me one final glance of concern and then we walked on once more, but this time my important person was walking at my side, her hand holding mine. I could feel her calmness and focus seep into me through our contact, Kara trying to restore my emotional balance.

When Chiho called and said she was coming over the moment the fight was over, both Kara and I ordered her and everyone else to stay the hell away. We even went as far as to promise to use them as test subjects for Kara's apparition if we so much as saw them there. Our Ashikabi may be growing rapidly into the Ashikabi we need but this… This hell was something neither she nor Uzume should ever see, it would shatter them. I wouldn't want Beni here either and considering Kara ordered Haihane to stay with Chiho in an unusually serious tone, neither did she. She may have used the excuse that it was a pain to restock the Alcohol cabinet the last time something like this happened but considering she looked away as she said this and used a strangely somber voice…

Regardless, after being subject to mental and emotional torture for more than 2 hours, I think my general mood of 'I'll get that fucker even if it's the last thing I'll ever do' is quite excusable. In fact, my greatest wish right now is to find Homura, enlist him on our hunt, chase down that fucking Himura and then barbeque him alive, very, very, very, very slowly. That bastard may have run off the moment things went sour but we'll find him. He can't escape the city and I'll search the whole place myself if I have to till I find him. And when I do… I'll make him pay for forcing me to feel so gods be damned helpless.

It was for this reason that we were now heading over to Izumo Inn, the sun in the cold blue skies above setting down before us.


	44. Gate:Vengeance

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"My, my." Kara stopped, seeing something on the road. I, still plagued by the nightmares I tried to shake off, stopped too but it took me a couple seconds to focus on the real world. "If it isn't Yume's container…"<p>

I came back to find ourselves standing mere meters away from the fence surrounding Izumo Inn, facing Musubi and Minato who were also on their way to enter. While Minato carried what looked like a dozen grocery bags, Musubi caused me to raise an eyebrow at her huge satchel that she carried on her back.

"Lady Karasuba?" Musubi cheerfully waves at us, holding the bag nearly twice her size easily with a single hand while Minato looked at us cautiously. "Hi Lady Rei! What are you doing here?"

"Work." Kara gave a dangerous smile. "We are here for a short stop, Rei needs to pick someone up."

"Hell Musubi." I waved tiredly at the excitable girl and her Ashikabi who looked at my bloodied and tattered haori with obvious fear. "Hi Minato. Is Homura here?"

"Why do-" Was all Minato could say before 2 more Sekirei joined us. While Tsukiumi landed beside and slightly in front of Minato, her water blade out and pointed at us, Kusano landed right on her Ashikabi and brought them both down with a cloud of dust.

"Why are you here." Tsukiumi stared at me in controlled anger.

"Spirit!" Kusano on the other hand happily ran out from behind her fellow Sekirei's back and was hugging my leg in a flash. "Play again?"

"Sorry, Kusano, not right now." I lifted my hand to ruffle her golden hair but froze instead when my eyes noticed that my gauntlets were crusted with dry blood.

"Rei Is too tired to play right now kid." Kara told Kusano with a serious expression.

"Ku!" Minato tried to dash forward to grab Kusano but was held back by a serious Tsukiumi who still watched us, alert and wary.

"I will ask again." I sighed heavily, we posed no threat right now, why were so tense? "Is Homura here?"

"Why yes he is." The front door opened and Takehito peeked out in his usual kimono. "Why don't you all come in, Miya just finished cooking dinner."

I was faced with a tough choice. Go and eat delightfully delicious food and most likely pass out due to how tired I felt or persevere and go hunt instead. I was about to decline when I got a whiff of something delicious that seeped out from the open door. On the other hand, I wasn't really tired physically, just mentally and emotionally. I haven't actually done anything particularly physically strenuous and I could always just force myself to stay awake…

"Come on." Kara grabbed me by my waist and hauled me inside. "You need to eat."

Takehito raised an eyebrow at the care and gentleness Kara showed me but said nothing as he stepped aside to let us in. He did frown at the state of my armour and haori but he and I both knew there was no way I'd ever remove my armour in this inn. Not with Miya around. Granted, it wouldn't help much if she really does try to kill me but it was more psychological at this point. I only felt safe and comfortable without my armour when in Kara's embrace or Akitsu's.

"Oh my," Miya frowned at Takehito when she saw us all walk in. "I see you picked up a couple of strays again Takehito."

Much to the surprise of everyone at the table, who cringed from Miya's taunt, Kara ignored the jab and instead helped me sit down before taking a seat beside me, her hand holding mine.

Around the table sat: Yukari between Homura and Shiina, Kusano sat by Shiina's side and chattered away, Kazehana sat between Matsu and Homura while goading them into a drinking contest and Takehito took a seat at the head of the table with his arms around Miya's waist. Much to my surprise, although Tsukiumi and Musubi took a seat to put Minato between them, Yashima sat straight on his lap. The main surprise came from the fact that Minato, although red from his emotions, hugged his Sekirei from behind, allowing her to relax into his chest.

I mean, sure Takami hinted that his relationship with Yashima had progressed far beyond his other Sekirei but this was far past what I expected of the timid and usually shy boy. Still, watching them act lovey dovey in peace was a relief to me. After seeing so much despair, suffering and sorrow today I needed a rest. For a while, after introductions, they let us savour the fabulous food in peace but it didn't last.

"What happened to you Rei?" Yukari ran out of patience first, or was it tact that was lacking? "You look like you've been to hell and back, I've never seen you so…"

"Defeated and tired." Kazehana said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "I can see it in your eyes; even when I saw you after the battle at the bridge you looked far better. Something big must've happened to cause this. Even Karasuba here isn't looking quite peachy."

"So?" Kara shrugged. "This has nothing to do with you all except for Homura. If you want information, I bet the little scuffle we got into will make into the evening news."

"Why would it affect me?" Homura asked wearily, instantly assuming it had to do with his Guardian business. His guess isn't that far off honestly, I mean what else could I come to him for? Meanwhile, Matsu adopted a vacant look I associated with her browsing the internet.

Speaking of Matsu, it was still interesting to see her out of that room of hers. Ever since that game of 'catch the ghost' that we played, Matsu seemed to give up on pretending that she was hiding and instead began to fully rely on Miya for protection. It was quite hilarious when I visited with Kara at one point in time and Takehito invited us to eat with them, as always.

Matsu sat there, frozen under Kara's playful gaze, for the whole dinner and she now has a strand of white hair that sharply contrasts her fiery mane. Honestly, I think it makes her look more professional and mature which clashed horribly with the mask of a young girl she uses.

In other news, she almost went full on berserk on Kara after the later told her she had nothing to worry about at the end of the dinner. Finding out that you were hiding from the wrong person for years was quite difficult for Matsu.

"Holy shit…" Matsu suddenly called out, breaking me from my thoughts, her expression still vacant. "Yea, this definitely made the evening news."

"Language, Matsu." Miya called out but Matsu ignored her, as she was still busy perusing the waters of the treacherous thing that was the internet. After Haihane forced me to sit behind a computer and browse the internet, clicking at whatever I thought was interesting I never once again looked at the computer in anything but in wary disgust. Haihane claimed that it was just a small accident that I ended up in something called 4chan but I don't care, the internet is evil and every time I need to use it to look up something I do it with full knowledge that it's just waiting to spew vile sludge at me given half a chance.

"What is it Matsu?" Minato looked at his Sekirei with great interest.

"MBI needs to come up with better excuses though," Matsu mused as she resurfaced and looked at us warily. "2 Gas tankers colliding in the middle of a street and then blowing it to kingdom come doesn't quite cover what happened, especially if there is several clips of a massive fight on several private blogs."

"What the hell happened there that yielded over 100 corpses and they still keep finding more? Nearly three times that are injured and a good number of those aren't expected to survive the night." Matsu took off her glasses and looked at us sharply. "MBI flooded the area with soldiers and are excavating an entire city block, searching for survivors."

The atmosphere grew dark as everyone looked at us in fear or – in Miya's case – revulsion.

"Do you know a certain Ashikabi named Himura Youichi?" I asked tiredly, sipping tea.

"He is this guy with glasses and has a single Sekirei with a spear, right?" It was surprisingly Minato who spoke up. "He came to me yesterday asking for help getting out of the city but I got some real bad vibes from him so I declined."

"And it is a good thing you did." I ignored Kara's frown as she realized that she was this close to having a better fight hours prior. "Otherwise you may have ended up dead or worse and your Sekirei might've joined my 14 kin who fell there."

"14…" Homura muttered in horror.

"No way…" Yukari covered her mouth in horror.

"That little shit sent 25 pairs into battle against us while he ran." Kara's frown turned murderous. "He ordered those he conned into following him to unleash their Norito's on us, not caring about friendly fire. I only got to fight 3 Sekirei because of that coward."

"Kara." I stood up heavily, having to force myself to stay awake at this point. I could tell that our presence was intolerable at this point. "Let's go. We have a coward to hunt."

"Oh?' Kara looked at me in surprise, ignoring the downright hostile atmosphere. "Didn't you want to ask Homura to join us on this little witch hunt?"

"Why would I?" Homura asked wearily. "My days as the Guardian are over, even if I did want to go I have duties elsewhere now."

"What, you don't want to hunt the one directly responsible for the deaths of 14 Sekirei?" Kara smirked as she got up. "I only terminated 2 Sekirei in that fight while Rei killed none. Neither of us did any of the damage that turned that city block into rubble. You still want to let that guy go free after this? Or will you join us for a little late night barbeque?"

"I-" Homura stood up, frowning but he was suddenly interrupted by a serious Matsu who somehow gained an aura of command around her.

"You should go." She said in a forceful tone, her pale red eyes drilling into Homura. "I just finished analysing the MBI reports, witness compilations and what little footage survived. Karasuba isn't lying. It was a one sided slaughter caused by friendly fire."

The whole table fell silent at this. Thanks to Matsu's mask of a disturbingly lecherous girl, it's a bit hard to realize that the real Matsu was the Lieutenant of the First Generation Disciplinary Squad for a reason. Although Miya was the one who made the decisions and led them in battle, Matsu was the brain in operations that was ever at her captain's service. Thanks to her hacking and spying skills, she was always in control of the battlefield, in and out of combat.

According to Kara, Matsu was the real reason why untrained and unready Sekirei wiped the floor with a force of 100 000 men, armour, air and ships. Oh sure, she didn't do any actual combat, but suddenly, the ships would stall, their targeting algorithms fried, tanks would suddenly get lost, their GPS pointing them in a completely random direction, helicopters would crash as their delicate systems malfunctioned for seemingly no reason whatsoever. In fact, when the fleet tried to cut their losses and use rockets to bombard the island into oblivion, Matsu hacked them into exploding right in their silos inside the carriers, tearing the massive steel islands into pieces and killing thousands.

Of course, all of this was highly classified information and Kara advised me not to blabber on about it as an angry Matsu could make your life very, very difficult. She shuddered when I asked for clarification and refused, stating that in the age of electronics, a Sekirei with power over them can be quite scary if slighted.

Regardless, Homura might not know of Matsu's true role but I could see that he was quite unnerved by the little bit of Matsu's true self he got shown here for a moment. He still hesitated though and glanced at his Ashikabi who didn't seem to be too keen on the idea of letting her Sekirei go off and burn someone to death. Seeing this, I sighed and made my way back to the entrance, my body swaying slightly from my exhaustion.

Normally I'd never fight in this condition, but thankfully, all I need to do is find the bastard and stick a sword or 2 down his throat. Kara will handle his Sekirei for me. I had only taken maybe 10 steps before Kara appeared by my side and grabbed my waist, supporting me. I smiled at her in a silent thank you and continued on.

"Stop." We both turned our heads to see Matsu, still without her glasses and serious, hold out a phone to Kara. "I will feed his current location through this. Feel free to throw it away after you find him."

"Thanks, lieutenant." Kara smirked at Matsu's huff as she grabbed the phone. Matsu didn't go beyond an irritated look though as Kara made sure to keep her voice down. Even though Minato called for her, she ignored him in favour of seeing us 2 off.

"Make him pay." Matsu told us at the door before sighing wearily and putting on her glasses with her mask to go calm down her clueless Ashikabi.

* * *

><p>"Look," Homura rolled his eyes at our silent question. "My Ashikabi is a young, clueless girl who hasn't actually seen blood and war. What the hell do you think my response would be to you asking me to go kill people right in front of her?!"<p>

"That," I laughed, embarrassed. "Makes perfect sense. I wouldn't want Chiho on this mission either, at least not yet."

"Not yet?" Homura, in his badass outfit of awesomeness raised an eyebrow as we stood on a small skyscraper, the wind only adding bonus points to his overwhelming image as it ruffled his ashen hair. I don't usually care much for men, but damn, this guy was making me feel heat just by looking at him. Or maybe I am just tired and delirious, either one works in my state.

"Our Ashikabi is trying her best to be worthy of us." Kara said with a hint of pride and amusement. "Not that she actually needs to, as far as we are concerned she's fine as she is."

"Oh great," Homura sighed. "Don't tell me she's going to be going after the Ashikabi in these fights?"

"No, nothing like that." I sighed peacefully as I sat down on the edge of the 50 or so story building. Our target was just below us, unaware of the doom awaiting. Matsu truly is something, she hacked the entire city grid and found our target in minutes and since then never lost him. Scary woman that one, I thought as I squinted down to see our target argue with police, to think that she put down a fake arrest warrant out for the guy just as a casual addition to feeding us information on his whereabouts…

"We should go grab him before…" I paused as apparently the man lost his cool and set his Sekirei on the two cops. The poor guys never stood a chance as they fell to the ground, cloven in 2 by a halberd. So that's what her weapon looks like in its full form, interesting. "Well, too late I guess."

"Let's go." Kara jumped down, her aura coming to its full might giving her the image of a demonic crow descending on her prey. I sighed as I leaned over and fell, Homura's surprised face giving me a slight grin. He leapt after us, jumping from building side to building side, using his fire as a jetpack of sorts. I shifted into Soul Form after noticing the lamppost pass by, figuring that the ground was near. I was too tired to turn as I fell back forwards.

Ah, there was a reason why I tended not to escape fall damage using Soul Form. It has something to do with the sewers of Shinto Teito. Although highly automated and quite sophisticated for what they are, it didn't stop them from being extremely unpleasant. Especially if you land in the sewage water itself. Thank gods it doesn't actually touch me as I was in the Spirit Realm but it didn't make it any less disgusting to fall into. By the time I got back to surface level, still in my Soul Form, it was already over.

Kara stood over Nanaha, the Sekirei of our target, her blade dripping crimson liquid. The downed Sekirei was on her back, lying in a pool of her blood, a surprised expression frozen on her face as she clutched her halberd, cloven in 2. Looks like someone tried to block a strike from Kara's blade as she enhanced her strength. Even I had trouble blocking those and I bet I could snap Nanaha in 2 in I wanted to. For her troubles, she got her weapon sliced cleanly in 2 and then the blade proceeded to cleave her from shoulder to waist, narrowly escaping from touching her Tama. Instant death that was, which was good; I'd rather not have any of our kin suffer if we must terminate them.

"Ah, the final Arbiter has arrived." Kara grinned sadistically at the man's flinch when he saw me. "Good, now we can start now, hmm?"

I looked at the fucker responsible for ruining my day beyond all measure and the bastard responsible for killing 14 of my kin. I was…disappointed. It was just a common Asian guy; you could find hundreds of them in the street. Dark brown hair, glasses and a cowardice that could easily be judged by the dark stain on his pants. Not saying that all or even most Asians were cowards, if I so much as hinted at that I am afraid Takami will kill me but this one was truly a coward. Really, this was responsible for killing 14 Sekirei? 15 if you count his own. By the gods, this fool should've never even been an Ashikabi, I mean, look at him grovel away before us for his life.

"Pathetic." I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh. "This…this is what we chased after?"

"Indeed." Kara looked at the guy with disgust. "I am sorry, but I am not letting this filth touch my blade. I am afraid he'll corrupt it somehow."

I rolled my eyes at her, really, I mean sure the guy was a slime ball and a disgusting creature but somehow I doubt he was on par with her corrosive miasma that she coats her blade with occasionally nowadays.

"Homura," I turned to the fire Sekirei who also looked at the young man before us with revulsion. "Burn him."

Homura sighed but complied, a fireball quickly forming between his hands and he casually threw it at Himura. Kara sighed as we knew that he made it extra potent to kill the man fast, it could be easily seen by the intensity of the flame. To our complete surprise, our target dove to the side and managed to escape most of the flames. Most of them, but not all of them though, the enhanced potency of Homura's flames playing a foul trick on the man as even a little bit was enough to quickly consume him. We watched as he screamed in pain, rolling around trying to put out the fire on his clothes.

"No." I stopped Homura from launching another fireball to end his pain. When the fire Sekirei looked at me in surprise I explained. "Consider it fate. He could've got out of this relatively painlessly but fate had other plans."

Homura made a face and put out his fire. Right, he isn't quite enamored with fate. Something about Minaka preaching a bit too much about how his fate was to be of a confused gender. So we watched in silence as Himura slowly burned to death, screaming and wailing for every minute that he fought to stay alive. As he died, I made a note to never get hit by Homura's fire. Before he got his wings it was a lot less potent than this. Seriously, those flames stuck to their target like ravenous wolves on their dying pray. Considering even the cement burned in some areas, I wondered if he applied a Napalm effect to his fire, I mean cement doesn't burn…right?

We were startled out of reverie by an MBI evacuation chopper that landed nearby and Takami climbed out, faithful Akitsu beside her. Ah yes, by the time Himura turned to a merrily burning campfire, it would seem enough time passed for MBI to arrive to pick up Nanaha.

"So that's him?" Takami held a cigarette out for Homura who lit it without question, the move long practised between the 2 of them. "I am not sure if Minaka will be sad that you didn't bring him in alive or overjoyed that he had such a painful death."

"It doesn't matter." I sighed and sat down straight on the ground, my strength finally spent. "It's over now."

"Not exactly." Akitsu said with apprehension as she joined us, having finished overseeing the evacuation of Nanaha. As we turned to her, the silent question on our faces, it was Takami who answered instead. "Minaka had begun the 3rd Round 15 minutes ago."

We all stared at Takami in silence and then a dreadful feeling arrived. I shifted to look at Kara and sighed, of course she wouldn't be happy on missing out. Homura on the other hand, was sweating buckets as he stared at the warped, evil apparition that Kara has become. Ah right, he never actually seen her use her aura in such a way. I wonder if I should tell him that it's actually Kara's Norito that she drags out into reality as a phantasm. Na, let him get surprised on the battlefield when this see-through apparition suddenly turns solid and starts obliterating everything before it.

I giggled as I imagined his face and drew the attention of everyone present. While Akitsu, Takami and Homura stared at me incredulously, not understanding how I could possibly not be affected, Kara looked at me in concern.

"I'll deal with Minaka later," She canceled her aura and stooped over to pick me up, her enhanced strength easily allowing her to pick up someone twice her weight. It felt rather nice actually, being held in her protective embrace. It was incredibly hard not to fall asleep in fact. "Rei needs rest."

"N-no." I mumbled, opening my eyes to look into Kara's pale brown ones. "We need to get to Chiho."

"She'll be fine." Takami looked at me anxiously. "She has Uzume, Haihane and Beni to take care of her."

"…" Kara and I looked at each other and then looked over to Akitsu. Obviously, she was the more realistic one of the 2, having seen our Noritos. Having Uzume and Beni in 1 group was asking for a tragedy. Sure, we wanted to break things and force Minaka to never use us like this again, but we planned to have only 1 of those 2 actually attend the fight. While Beni or Uzume rampaged, Haihane, I or Kara would protect our Ashikabi from debris and what not.

"The next fight is here," Akitsu took out a tablet and showed us a picture of twisting roads and bridges. "This is the Chuuou Junction, it's about 15 minutes from here by helicopter if you want a ride."

"Where is it?" Kara ignored Takami and Homura talking to each other in the background.

"Here." Akitsu just handed us over the tablet, a GPS route already traced on it. "The battle is scheduled for 10:00, so in 22 minutes. Good luck."

"Karasuba, Rei." Before we could take off, or rather before Kara could take off with me in her grasp, Takami approached us once more. "Chiho has already picked Haihane, Beni and Uzume to go with her. Minaka won't let you switch the order anymore. The most you can do is watch."

"We don't have to participate." I smiled as I held out my hand and let my power course through it, making it glow pale blue. "Why, I think we'll just watch, just me, Kara and Chiho."

"Hmph, I see." Takami smiled before turning serious. "Minato will be present there. Please, try not to kill him."

"We won't aim for the boy." Kara replied as a matter of fact. "But in the chaos of a battle anything can happen."

"That's all I am asking for." Takami sighed wearily and suddenly looked decades older then she usually appeared. Akitsu, sensing the change, embraced her from behind tenderly. Meanwhile, Kara took off, the speed of her charge making people look at us with wild eyes as we passed cars and people in a flurry of wind. Kara was obviously using her power to enhance her speed in an effort to get us to the Junction as fast as possible, but even with us moving at nearly 80 kilometers per hour according to the tablet it will still take us about 10 minutes on the GPS to get to our destination. And then we'll have to look around for Chiho as we forgot to ask where exactly she was.

I could only hope that we would make it in time, as much as I trust Uzume, Beni and Haihane, Chiho will be much safer with me. After all, the 2 Realms can't touch each other.


	45. Gate:Match

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Damn it, where are they?" Kara muttered as we stood on a skyscraper overlooking the junction before us. For some odd reason, it was covered in very thick fog and from our view point we could only make out vague shape of the Junction itself. The fact that it was night time and the only viable source of light was the moon didn't help at all. For some reason, all of the lights around the Junction were off, street lamps and billboards alike. Hell, even the windows in the skyscrapers around it were completely empty, devoid of life. I guess it's a good thing Minaka bothered to evacuate everyone in the surrounding area but did he have to go and cut the power too?<p>

"Other side." I pointed vaguely into the mist before us as I felt my bond, Chiho shinning like a star in my eyes once more. "Here…"

"Tch." Kara sighed when I took us to the other side but didn't go beyond that. She understood that Minaka would make a mess if it was any other way. We aren't supposed to interfere after all.

"…"

"What?" I asked with a yawn, still trying to stay awake. "This is how I always land."

"Into the sewers." Kara rolled her eyes as she jumped up and through the ceiling, getting us out of the sewers we fell into when Kara jumped off the skyscraper. "Well, at least I now know why you have a disgusted face whenever you climb out."

"Huh, this is quite handy." Kara remarked as we dashed straight through the intersection, not caring about anything in our way. "I could get used to this."

"Please d-don't." I yawned once more, sleepily looking ahead as Kara carried me. "I'd hate to see you smash into a wall because of it."

Kara only huffed in amusement, no doubt thinking that she'd smash through it regardless of whether she was in Spirit Realm or Living Realm. Honestly, she's right. Not as effective as Beni who can literally walk through bunker doors when her Shock Charge is active but I think she can easily melt her way through with that corrosive miasma of hers.

Although I liked having Chiho shine like a Polar Star for me, the trouble was that I could only tell the direction she was in and not the distance. Of course, when it suddenly dashed sideways and out of my vision, I knew we ran past her so I had Kara turn. After repeating the process a couple more times, we ended up meeting them halfway down the helipad they were going down from.

"Karasuba? Rei?" Chiho asked, surprised, as she looked at the slightly winded Kara who carried me. "Rei, are you alright?"

"Yea…" I yawned once more reached out to rub my eyes only to stop when I remembered that a: I wore metal gauntlets and b: I wore bloody metal gauntlets. Not something I'd like near my eyes any time soon. "I am just tired."

"You should've went back," Beni fussed around me, concern clear on her face. "We can handle this."

"Oh I am sure you can." Kara said with a disappointed sigh. "Seeing as we can't participate, we'll just watch."

"Alright." Chiho smiled in relief. "The Director stressed how I can only take 3 Sekirei with me."

"Don't worry," I patted Kara's arm that held me up. "I'll keep an eye on Kara."

"I have doubts about who's keeping an eye on whom…" Haihane muttered as she looked at me in Kara's arms with slight jealousy. Ah yes, I am not sure who Kara carried like this aside from me and Chiho. Most likely, no one, aren't I special?

"We should go." Uzume called as she stared down at the thick fog, balanced precariously on the safety rail. "I can see shapes moving around there, I think the rest of the contestants arrived."

"Before that," Kara looked at Chiho sharply. "What's your plan?"

"Uhm, it's the same as we discussed." Chiho shrugged. "Let Benitsubasa or Uzume Norito and then destroy the entire area. Also, should we? I mean, there's so many people around…"

"There's no one here." I said in a half-whisper, too tired to do much else.

"From what we saw," Kara picked up for me. "Everyone was evacuated so you can safely have Benitsubasa or Uzume wreak everything."

"Wait," I forced my eyes open from a sudden revelation. "Cooldown."

"Shit." Kara swore as she realized the same thing as me. We all used our Noritos yesterday afternoon and Akitsu said that the safe recharge time is just under 29 hours.

"It should be fine." Uzume jumped off the rails and walked over to us. "I think the timer is out now and even if it wasn't, it's so little that at this point any damage we suffer from using it will be minimal."

"Yea, don't worry." Beni smacked her fist into her hand. "We got this."

"We should really get watches…" Haihane muttered, absentmindedly scratching her head with her clawed hand. "Oww."

Beni sighed and reached for a bandage in her small med kit that she always carried on her belt. Haihane, due to her claws, couldn't be trusted to bandage anyone and Kara didn't like applying first aid. As I said, I was quite surprised that she was as proficient in it as she was. And I…I don't know, I just never got around to it. So the designated medic of our little squad was Beni who mostly treated scratches and the like and occasionally kept a target alive while we tortured information out of them.

"Let me." Uzume waved her hand and a silk band coiled itself around Haihane's head, bandaging her scalp.

"Oh thank god, someone else can be the medic now!" Beni practically jumped in joy around confused Uzume. Beni might not be breaking down in hysterics every time she had to kill anymore but she still absolutely hated dealing with injured people. Which is why most of the time the first thing she did was gag the person she was administering first aid to and then start working. Of course, she didn't have to do that for us as we could handle the pain – I and Kara could ignore it by sheer will while Haihane did it by pure habit. I mean, once you get hurt enough times you build a higher pain tolerance and Haihane scratched herself a lot. Perhaps not so much anymore, but there were cases in her early days of training when she'd heavily injure herself accidentally. Hell, I think if it wasn't for our regenerative properties, she'd be heavily scarred at best and dead at worst.

"Whatever, we should do what we came here for." Kara rolled her eyes in exasperation at the dance of happiness Beni was performing. "Chiho, kiss whoever is assigned for destruction so Rei can swap you and go to sleep already."

"A-alright." Chiho glanced at me with worry before she grabbed an unsuspecting victim and kissed her, initiating the Norito.

"So how did it feel to be the one to initiate a kiss?" I grinned even as I reached over and swapped her to the Spirit Realm.

"It was…" Chiho glanced at the heavily blushing Sekirei she just kissed. "Nice. I should do this more often."

"Come on, let's go." Haihane sighed, disappointed that she couldn't do widespread destruction unlike her teammates for the fight.

* * *

><p>"You!"<p>

"Lady Karasuba!"

"Eh?"

"What the hell, I thought there were only 3 Sekirei allowed!"

"Tch, so the Arbiters is not above cheating?" Izumi sighed. "How ironic."

"Shut up and let me sleep!" I opened an eye, having dozed off while we were walking down the stairs and glared at those before me. "We are merely watching anyway, can't you see?"

Apparently, during my small nap which somewhat refreshed me as I no longer had the urge to drop dead and sleep, – I still wanted to sleep by the way - we ended up beneath a major part of the intersection, the concrete paths criss-crossing above us, blocking out the sky completely. Thankfully, even with the fog, the surrounding lights were enough to illuminate the surroundings. It was an odd design that Minaka set up truth be told. Dead skyscrapers surrounding a dome of fog filled with lights on the inside. I couldn't figure out what was the point of this though, why bother with the fog at all?

Facing us were our opponents for the night and after taking a closer look I couldn't help but groan. After glancing at Kara's expression I could see that she wasn't amused in the slightest with the set up. Seriously, if this was a Battle Royale we are screwed, even if we massacre our opposition as planned, Takami will have our heads afterwards.

So, facing us was Minato, looking quite decent for once in an open black jacket with a gray shirt and pants. Not bad for trying to blend in with the surroundings, he must've done his research on where we would be fighting. Or, more likely, Matsu did the research for him and forced him to dress like so.

Anyhow, he brought with him Tsukiumi, no surprise here I bet she'd kill him if he dared to leave her behind on a fight like this. Smiling beside him was Musubi who was waving at Kara. She looked…stronger somehow. I am not sure how or why I felt it, but I could feel a presence from her now, sort of a passive aura. Unlike Kara who has to call up her aura or Miya who suppresses it by default, Musubi's was constantly active putting me on edge. Although she might not have control over it yet which would explain why I couldn't feel her earlier in the inn but here on the battlefield I could.

Speaking of presences and auras, I surveyed the final member of their group the longest. It would seem that after recovering from the injuries I gave her, Yashima changed quite a bit. She grew more…calmer? More serious perhaps and a bit more confident as well. Compared to Tsukiumi who fidgeted, her water blade at the ready, or Musubi who was practically shaking with excitement, Yashima was the paramount of calmness.

She also seemed to have gotten some armour from somewhere which was a surprise. I think more and more Sekirei are beginning to realize that common clothing is hardly something they should trust to protect them. Still, her choice in armour was rather thin, as if she was missing pieces or something. Gauntlets, vambraces, steel greaves and a cuirass with what looked like a thick sweater beneath for cushioning. Combined with the massive hammer she carried with ease, she looked rather odd. Still, from what I can see, her armour definitely protects her front and I guess she'll play the frontal fighter role to lock down her opponent.

Turning to the right, I surveyed the fighters Higa brought with him and frowned. Where was Toyotama? She's his strongest fighter and the commander of his forces, shouldn't she be here, with him? Where was Ichiya, another elite fighter of his? Instead he had a pretty girl in a dress who looked at Tsukiumi with anger, another girl with short black hair who wore a bizarre mixture of a short white top with a tie, bloomers, long black gloves and equally long black stockings. Perhaps not on the level of the stripper look Toyotama and Ichiya wear but somewhere close. Beside her stood a young woman with long blond hair in a far more modest outfit with a sleeveless shirt and a skirt. That being said, her bust size made her shirt look frankly outrageous. Much like the black haired girl standing beside her, she also wore long gloves and stockings but hers were white.

All in all, I was not impressed. At all. None of 3 Sekirei Higa brought with him had a weapon nor did they look like they were strong. Of course, looks can be misleading and all of that, I mean look at Beni. She prances about in a red bodysuit that leaves little to imagination and looks practically harmless, especially with her long side ponytail of pink hair. She wears the Disciplinary Squad haori over top in normal situations for decency but in combat she takes it off to avoid shredding it by accident. Combined with her petite body and general small size, only hard core paranoid people would suspect her capable of leveling entire skyscrapers with a single blow.

I guess I'll have to wait and see, I mean, I can do nothing else, right?

"TESTING! HELLO EVERYONE!" We all cringed as suddenly Minaka's voice was everywhere, blasting out of speakers that littered the place. "It seems like all contestants have arrived!"

"So…loud." Haihane glared at the nearest speaker and with a flick of her wrist it was suddenly shredded into pieces of metal and sparks.

"AND NOW!" Minaka continued, still as loud. "IT'S TIME TO START THE THIRD MATCH! THIS IS A BATTLE ROYALE AND THE FINAL TEAM STANDING WILL RECEIVE THE THIRD JINKI!"

It was a pity that the White Clown's loud voice prevented me from hearing what Minato was talking to his Sekirei about. Final plans perhaps? Higa was doing the same slightly away, talking to the girl in the dress in low tones about something, not taking a chance of being overheard at all. What a pity, it's always better to know of your opposition's plans, I mused as I shifted slightly in Kara's arms making myself more comfortable. Kara merely glanced at me before looking back at the scene before us. I think the set is prepared, the actors are ready…

"NOW," Minaka carried on with his rant. "LET THE GLORIOUS COMBAT BEGIN!"

And with these simple words, chaos reigned. The moment Minaka finished, Yashima suddenly slammed her hammer into the ground, cracking the street open and raising a huge cloud of dust that prevented us from seeing them. Before we had a chance to so much as wonder what that was about, a dulled flash of light from inside the cloud drew our attention.

"That's a-" Chiho exclaimed with her eyes going wide before she was interrupted.

"These are the fists of my pledge," Musubi's voice echoed through the clearing as Higa was promptly evacuated by his Sekirei while Uzume, Haihane and Beni stood at the ready. "Crush the catastrophe before my Ashikabi!"

"Don't." Kara ordered Uzume who drew her bow and was about to fire into the dust cloud blindly. "You might hit Minato."

"Fine…" The veil Sekirei sighed as she lowered her bow, the lance like arrow still knocked and ready.

"Here I go!" We stared with open mouths as Musubi jumped about a hundred meters into the air, her poor Ashikabi trailing behind her like a rag doll, and then smashed into the intersection with the might of a fallen star. "Bear Meteor!"

"Damn it!" Beni growled as she jumped away to dodge the complicated piece of human road building that turned into rubble. "That was our plan!"

"Great, now we can't see anything." Haihane coughed, her claw covering her mouth as she tried to avoid breathing in the ton of dust that was currently in the air. We thought the mist around the junction and the dust cloud raised by Yashima was bad? Well, having a gigantic intersection turn into dust and rubble in a matter of seconds wasn't great for health either.

"Where are they?" Uzume looked around, her veils circling her, ready to spear anything that so much as twitches at their owner. "I can't see anything."

"You don't need to see." Kara rolled her eyes. "Go out there and destroy them already."

"Ah, don't forget!" Chiho hurriedly added. "Don't terminate anyone!"

"Alright, I'll try." Uzume smiled before turning to Haihane and Beni. "Cover me, I am going to-"

A faint whistle attracted our attention and suddenly Haihane dashed in front of Uzume to parry an incredibly fast moving disk that flew straight through our Ashikabi and threatened to slice Uzume. A split second later she deflected another and then sliced the third one into pieces of broken metal, her claw glowing gray for a split second.

"Who's there?" Beni looked at the direction the disks came from warily, unable to see anything. "Show yourself!"  
>"Che! What a cheating ability you have, number 51." One of Higa's Sekirei, the girl in the dress, walked out from behind a half demolished pillar. "I am number 101, Oriha! I'll have you die for my master!"<p>

"It works to protect my Ashikabi from certain cheaters." I shrugged in Kara's arms as I nonchalantly rebuked the girl who just tried to slice Chiho to bits.

"Indeed." Higa said as he walked out of the dust cloud with his 2 Sekirei at his side, their stances tense and ready. "I never really expected anything else from you Rei."

"Oh?" Beni cracked her knuckles with a vicious smile. "Attacking us first? Looks like you got a death wish."

"To be honest we didn't know who we were attacking." Higa admitted without battling an eyelash. "It's a bit hard to see in this dust cloud, don't you agree?"

"It doesn't matter, now I'll-" Haihane suddenly spun again and hit Uzume, throwing her out of the way as she parried a gigantic hammer. Or tried to parry anyway, Yashima's empowered hammer didn't even notice her trying to resist and smashed her knee deep into the cement. Haihane was never one for strength; she was agile and fast but hardly strong.

"Fuuck!" Haihane roared as she sliced outwards, the hammer that still glowed blue was pushed back by gray wind, allowing Haihane to roll out of the crater before the giant weapon crashed down again, this time cracking the street all the way down to the sewers.

"Haihane!" Chiho called out in great concern as she looked at her bleeding Sekirei who, quite frankly, looked like shit. Haihane only narrowly managed to avoid getting smashed into a giant blood pancake and the fact that she took a hammer weighing a ton to the face was quite serious.

"I-" Haihane panted, blood dripping down her face as she struggled to stand, swaying hard. "I am fine."

"Pull back." Kara ordered before turning to Uzume. "Now would be a good time."

"R-right!" Uzume flinched at the dark aura Kara momentarily revealed which also distracted everyone else as they stared in horror at the woman holding me.

"Enshroud the world!" Uzume chanted with great speed even as she leapt away from us, her shout bringing the attention of everyone else as they scrambled to stop her, realizing what she was trying to do.

"The Will of my Ashikabi!" Uzume called out, briefly dodging a water bullet from Tsukiumi who stood somewhere nearby but out of our sight. Yashima tried to charge her but had to dodge when Haihane sliced at her, her wind claws allowing her to hit her opponent from 5 meters away. Beni in the meanwhile, grabbed a big piece of rubble and threw in Higa's general direction, forcing his Sekirei to work together to smash it before it turned their Ashikabi into paste. All of this bought enough time for Uzume's cocoon come into play and at that point, Tsukiumi's attempts to destroy it were fruitless. For each veil she pierced and destroyed, there were hundreds beneath and the cocoon was rapidly growing, already reaching the tip of the ruined intersection.

Surprisingly, the intersection itself suffered fairly low damage. The center was completely demolished but everything else still stood. That was about to rectified though as the cocoon grew to size of a 3 story building and didn't show any signs of stopping. At this point, the dust cloud cleared up enough for us to finally see Tsukiumi who was only meters away from Yashima who pulled back from fighting Haihane. Haihane drew back behind Beni's back who was gently tossing a huge boulder about 10 times her size up and down, an angry red aura around her. Higa's Sekirei also looked at her with wary eyes, knowing that if provoked, that giant boulder was going to fly in their direction and they weren't sure they'll be able to stop this much bigger one in time.

"Come on." Kara turned and motioned for Chiho to follow. "We might be safe, but it'll be hard to watch anything here in a few seconds from now."

Chiho glanced at her Sekirei for a second, but seeing Haihane give her a cheery smile and wave – even as she leaned on Beni for support – decided to trust her Sekirei and walk with us.


	46. Gate:Show

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>We reached about 10 meters or so away from the damaged intersection before Kara decided that this was a good place to oversee the situation without getting buried in too much rubble. Turning, she sat down on the ground with me still in her lap and prepared to enjoy the show. Chiho tried to sit on a piece of rubble only to fall through it with a surprised yelp. Ah, the problem with sitting in Spirit Realm was that couldn't actually sit on Living Realm objects. And the mechanics of sitting – and standing for that matter – were quite shifty honestly. That being said, sitting or standing on the floor was always a solid choice and almost always worked. I could also suspend myself in mid-air to mimic sitting while in Spirit Realm due to the funky way physics worked – or rather didn't – in Spirit Realm with regard to Living Realm but it required much training before I could do subconsciously. Kara for example never bothered to learn it and simply sits on the floor whenever in Spirit Realm. Chiho, of course, didn't have said training and thus couldn't mimic sitting on the rubble so she sat down on the ground with us.<p>

I yawned and forced myself to pay attention to what was going on before us, sleep will have to wait, this was important.

"And we are back!" Musubi landed beside Tsukiumi and Yashima out of nowhere.

"Where's Minato?" Yashima turned to her immediately, her eyes searching for any sign of her Ashikabi.

"He's right…here?" Musubi made a grasping motion with her right hand with a confused expression before turning around to look behind her. Finding nothing, her face adopted a look of horror and she turned deathly pale "Uwah! Minato!"

"Y-you lost our Ashikabi!?" Tsukiumi screeched furiously, her face just as pale as Musubi's.

"How the hell did you do that?" Beni asked in disbelief, her surprise so great that she even stopped tossing that big boulder up and down. Even Higa lost his calm expression and stared with tangible surprise at this unexpected turn of events.

"Uwah! Lord Minato! Minato!" Musubi seemed hysterical as she started calling out for her Ashikabi desperately.

"Don't worry Chiho." I reached over and petted the shocked girl. "We'll never lose you, we can sense you."

"Uhm, okay…" Chiho gave me a half smile before turning back to the unwinding tragedy. Or was it a comedy? Honestly, how can a Sekirei lose their Ashikabi by accident when all we have to do is feel our bond for their location?

"Shut up." Yashima smacked Musubi on her head, the metal gauntlet eliciting an 'oww' from her sister Sekirei, and told her with absolute certainty. "We aren't dead so Minato is still alive we'll just-"

Whatever she wanted to say was drowned out in a triumphant screech that shattered all nearby glass and made everyone close wince in pain. We all looked around just in time to see a gargantuan 10 floor tall snow white spider finish crawling out of its cocoon. The monstrous creature set out its legs to stabilize herself, creating holes in the concrete as it cracked under the weight.

"What. The. Fuck." Higa said clearly in a calm voice as he stood tall before the monstrosity towering over Junction, its many black eyes assessing the situation. He may have sounded and looked calm but his nervously clenched hands and wide eyes told a different story. His Sekirei weren't that far behind their Ashikabi as they stared at the spider with obvious fear. Yashima, Tsukiumi and even Musubi all looked at their opponent with mouths agape, forgetting their previous problem momentarily.

"Uzume!" The aforementioned audience flinched as the spider turned to Beni who grabbed Haihane and lifted her up in a gentle carry. "I am going to go fix Haihane and I am leaving the fight to you. Enjoy!"

"Th-that's Uzume!?" Tsukiumi exclaimed incredulously as the massive white spider nodded and turned back to face them.

"Hey!" Yashima recovered and turned to Higa. "We need to work together to bring that thing down."

"What?" Tsukiumi cried out in ire. "We don't need their help against some spider! Water Celebration!"

"Kujou, Oriha, Oshino." Higa said loudly, practically yelling to be heard over the annoyed chitter of the spider which, albeit a little wet, was not injured at all from the water cannon ball that hit it. "We are allies with Sahashi's Sekirei until that thing is dealt with."

"Alright!" Oriha stepped forward, a dozen razor sharp disks beginning to spin in orbit around her at high speeds, turning into whirling chainsaws of destruction. "Take this!"

3 of her disks flew and sliced into the nearest leg, the silk making up the giant construct giving way easily under the assault of the disks that hacked through it like chainsaws. Uzume screeched again but this time it was in anger. Nonetheless, the sound attack again shattered whatever glass was in range and forced everyone else to clutch their ears in pain.

"Scatter!" Higa's decently dressed Sekirei with massive chest called out and leapt away with Higa in her arms. Her allies jumped away instantly as well, not questioning her decision at all. Hmm, it would seem that she is the team leader in this situation. "Oriha, left 3 steps, Oshina, sharp weapons only!"

I watched in surprise as Uzume's giant limb hit the spot they just vacated and then as Oriha followed her leader's command instantly to narrowly avoid a falling segment of the Junction that otherwise would've turned her into a massive blood stain. Meanwhile, the newly identified Oshino pulled out a see through broadsword, that looked like it was made out of clear glass, out of nowhere and hacked at Chiho's leg just as it began to rise out of the crater it made. I felt my eyebrows climb upwards as the broadsword bit through a considerable part of the leg and then shattered into fading particles as if I imagined the whole thing. Except the wound stayed so there was no way I imagined this Oshina creating an imaginary sword and inflicting real damage with it. In fact, Oshino, without so much as battering an eyelash, slashed at Uzume's leg with 2 more longswords she made out of nothing into the legs and cut off a claw before the swords broke and vanished once more.

Okay, I revise my decision on their weakness. Higa brought a genuinely strong team to the fight. A Sekirei that controls the battlefield and can predict her enemy's movements, a Sekirei that can create single use imaginary weapons that deal actual damage and a Sekirei with several dozen chainsaws of death flying about; this team is going to be hard to beat. Especially considering they had Minato's team helping them. Minato's Sekirei denounced Kojou's ordering them about however, so the teamwork between the 2 teams might be a bit sketchy.

All in all thought, I'd say Uzume was more fooling around rather than really fighting her opponents. There was none of that blindingly fast speed or agility she showed on the island and she barely used her strength that she could crush small mountains with. In fact, her strikes were quite weak and most of the damage she did was actually caused by the sheer weight of the construct rather than it's might. Hmm, I thought, perhaps Chiho's order not to deactivate our opponents might have little to do with Uzume's true motive.

"Chiho," I called out, startling the girl who focused all of her attention on the fight. "How are you holding up?"

"Eh?" Chiho took a moment to feel herself, her face gaining a cute frown of concentration. "I am fine. Great actually, there is a little bit of heat in my chest but that's it."

"I see." Kara said simply, understanding the implications instantly. Uzume was moving like a sluggish drunkard because she was trying to limit the stress her Norito was inflicting on Chiho. Surprisingly, she was successful as they have been fighting for 5 minutes now and our Ashikabi was completely fine. Still, she said nothing else, content with the situation like me for now.

The first time the 6 Sekirei fighting Uzume destroyed one of her legs, they cheered. Then their cheers turned in cries of frustration, angry curses and calls of cheating when Uzume regenerated her damaged limb in a matter of seconds while the old piece broke apart into a pile of silk; the energy giving it form gone. And so it turned into a stalemate. They couldn't do anything that would do lasting damage and Uzume moved too slowly to catch them.

Over the duration of the fight, my respect for Kujou grew. Plan after plan she created on the spot and guided her team through them. Even Minato's Sekirei grudgingly followed her lead now. Granted, none of the plans did any real damage to Uzume but I particularly liked the one where they dropped a skyscraper – damaged in the fighting – on her. That was the closest they got to defeating her and if it wasn't for Uzume revealing one of her cards – her incredible speed – they would've succeeded.

Currently, from what I understood, they were trying to get Uzume to stand still long enough to drop another skyscraper on her and bury her. Uzume was having none of that however and even picked up speed to avoid them from boxing her in.

Meanwhile, the 6 Sekirei fighting her were getting quite tired. Although Tsukiumi was the strongest present, she had to pour extra power into her water attacks to concentrate and pressurise them enough to get past Uzume's passive resistance to water. I bet Tsukiumi was secretly wishing she had Homura's power right now so that she could burn Uzume to a crisp. True, from what I understood silk didn't quite burn well, but considering I've just seen Homura burn concrete – which I still think isn't even capable of burning – I think he can turn Uzume to ash regardless of the minor fire resistance silk has. Speaking of which, never have Uzume fight Homura, at least, not alone. Wouldn't want her to get completely obliterated after all.

That being said, Tsukiumi was also the one doing the most damage to Uzume, together with Oriha. Her pressurized water drilled into Uzume's body frequently, aggravating the gigantic spider to no end. Oriha, in the meanwhile, was focusing her disks on Uzume's eyes. Although she could to significant damage to the body with her flying chainsaws she grew bored of watching everything she did regenerate and instead went for an obvious weak spot. After losing a couple eyes to the whirling disks of death, Uzume not only demonstrated that she could morph her body on the fly by growing thick eyelids on her eyes but she also now went solely after Oriha, determined to get revenge.

This was particularly detrimental to Kujou who now sat, clutching her head in pain, a thin trail of blood trickling from her nose. As Uzume grew more and more focused on squishing Oriha into paste, Kujou had to think harder and faster to figure out a way to keep her teammate alive constantly. In fact, if this goes on, I wouldn't be surprised if she passes out from the stress.

I'll have to hand it to the busty Sekirei though; she was a superb addition to any team. Being able to foresee a move before the enemy does it and being able to create plans around it on the fly were extremely good abilities. It was unfortunate that out of 5 Sekirei under her command, only Tsukiumi was actually useful. Oriha was currently doing everything she could to stay alive while Yashima, Musubi and Oshina did not have the reach to do anything aside from attacking Uzume's legs. Useful for slowing her down but that was about it. Their participation in the fight was literally limited to being annoying distractions. Musubi tried running up Uzume's leg to reach her body and fight it but after getting nearly impaled by almost a hundred instant silk spikes that grew throughout the leg like deadly hair parodies, that particular option was abandoned.

"Oww, my head…" We all turned to see what we earlier took as a bundle of dusty rags nearby turnover and become an equally dusty Minato who clutched at his bleeding head in obvious pain. "Where am I?"

"Welcome to Hell." I called out with a grin at how startled he became after hearing my voice. "How shall we serve you? Boiled alive, fried in pieces, served raw? Current favourite is skinned and roasted."

"Rei!" Chiho slapped my forearm, scandalized, even as Kara grinned. "Don't worry, she's joking. We won't harm you."

"R-right-" He suddenly ducked, a fairly large boulder flying dangerously nearby. Upon looking up again, he froze in shock, his eyes wide and mouth open as he stared at Uzume. The Sekirei in question was currently excavating a skyscraper, trying to get Oriha who dashed into it moments prior.

"What the hell is that thing!?" He finally came to and yelled, pointing at the gargantuan creature that the other Sekirei were trying to prevent from rapidly disassembling skyscraper. So far they didn't seem to have any luck as Uzume was very determined to get the pest that blinded a couple of her eyes. It would seem that her eyes truly were her weak point; I could see that they were healing but far slower than any other part of her body.

"Oh calm down." I turned to look at Haihane who snuck in with Beni some time earlier. The bandaged Sekirei was sporting a fair amount of new bandages and looked quite happy to just lie on the ground and not move at all.

"It's just Uzume having a bit of fun." Beni said absentmindedly as she slit the bandages around Haihane's chest and turned her charge on her side, eliciting a groan of protest. "Shut up, you got damaged ribs. Stay like this until we can get you to a hospital."

"You just had to expose me for everyone to see." Haihane muttered as she adjusted her haori to cover up her exposed chest. "And why can't I lie on my back, this hurts."

"If you didn't have those huge breasts of yours, you damn cow," Beni huffed as she continued to look over Haihane. "You might've."

"Tch, you're just jealo-oww, oww, oww!" Haihane winced and continued in a much more even tone. "Sorry, never mind."

"A-aren't you concerned for Uzume?" Minato didn't seem to know what surprised him more, that Uzume was currently fighting 6 versus 1 or that we were so relaxed about it.

"If you used those eyes of yours for their intended purpose," Kara replied snidely. "You'll see that Uzume is toying around with them."

"Wha-"

"Without their Ashikabi, your Sekirei don't stand a chance." Haihane said vindictively, taking pleasure at the fear on Minato's face. "Such a pity that their Ashikabi is a coward that hides away from combat when even Higa is participating."

We all looked over to see Kujou somehow ending up in Higa's lap as he gently wetted her feverish face with a wet cloth. Seems like it wasn't just me who noticed that Kujou was overheating from using her power too much.

"Damn it! You are right!" Minato admitted with a frown before standing up and beginning to limp-run over to the battle. "They need me!"


	47. Gate:Finale

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

It would seem that, quite unfortunately, my buffer of chapters ran out. As of after this chapter, all other chapters will come out whenever they are done.

In the meanwhile, I hope you review, it would be interesting to see what you think of the story, the characters, the plot so far.

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><p>Before he could finish his 5th step, a low groan that seemed to originate from the very ground itself caught our attention. Minato stopped and stared in shock as the skyscraper Uzume was demolishing finally had enough. Uzume must've destroyed some vital support inside the giant building and it began to teeter, leaning forward, intent on burying the entire Junction – or what was left of it – in rubble. Unlike the first skyscraper, which still partially stood, this one fell in its entirety, leaving nothing but a small mountain of rubble in its wake. It was slow at first, but accelerated rapidly, leaving little time to get out of the way.<p>

Uzume and those fighting her scrambled away, their Sekirei speed allowing them to get out of the impact zone in time, and Higa picked up Kujou in a bride carry and sprinted off. This surprised me greatly as I didn't think that such a thin, slender man could have so much strength and speed. Minato on the other hand had nowhere to run, the skyscraper may miss landing on him directly but the rubble generated by the impact will most likely shred the young man.

"Benitsubasa." Kara said calmly, even lazily, not even bothering to look at my student.

"Tch." Beni huffed but sprinted over to Minato, grabbing him and lugging the taller male over her shoulder. A dark red aura enveloped them even as Beni began to run heavily, building up a Shock Charge. A moment later the skyscraper crashed, sending a gigantic wave of dust and rubble to completely cover the Junction. Honestly, I think the worst thing about the collapse wasn't the rubble but the noise generated by it. I very much appreciated the fact that sound behaved extremely odd when transitioning from Living Realm to Spirit Realm and vice versa. On one hand, it seemed to travel much farther than it should, letting us hear things that were generally out of our reach. On the other hand, the volume and sheer amount of said sound seemed…muted. And in a weird sense too, it was like the total volume and total amount had a cap on it as to how much can pass between the realms at a single point in time, meaning that in a case like right now, the countless number of impacts were…muted. Difficult to explain the feeling but hey, I'll toss the idea to experiment on it to Akitsu later, for now I am just happy that it prevented us from losing our hearing, even if for a little bit.

A couple seconds after objects stopped flying through the air and the rubble calmed down, we moved up to the surface of the new rubble. Well, although I can't see shit, I think it can be safely said that the Chuuou Junction officially doesn't exist anymore. Moments after this thought, a faint red glow grew in the dust before us and within a couple seconds a disgruntled Beni showed up as she stopped before us and tossed down her luggage.

"Oww." Minato stood up shakily and glanced around at the rubble and dust that were now everywhere. "Thanks for saving me."

"U-uhm," Chiho stuttered, her face red as she looked away from Minato. "C-could you wear something please?"

"Eh?" The young man looked down before blushing tomato red and ducking hide behind a broken and twisted piece of metal which looked like it used to a fridge mere minutes ago. Seeing as it was a new addition to the cataclysmic landscape around us, I'd wager it came from one of the rooms of the newly demolished skyscraper.

The reason for this embarrassing – for Chiho and Minato, we didn't particularly care having long desensitized ourselves to naked flesh, especially blood covered naked flesh but I digress – situation was that, much to Beni's dismay, normal clothes can't handle her power. They shred and practically disintegrate under the destructive shock nature of her power in a matter of seconds. This caused quite a few dozen of highly embarrassing situations for Beni. In fact, I have suspicions that Beni terminated everyone with extreme prejudice whenever something like this happened not because we weren't supposed to leave no one alive but because they dared to see her naked. Eh, whatever works I guess, we got the missions done. Anyway, she was so happy when Akitsu and Takami finally devised a nanoweave suit that is immune to her power that she literally cried tears of happiness as she hugged the hell out of her 2 saviours.

Of course, Minato's clothes were not a bodysuit that costs like a modern day destroyer to make according to Akitsu. So when exposed to Beni's power they performed exactly as expected and exactly the same way as all previous clothes did before Beni got the aforementioned suit. They got shredded and partially disintegrated into scrap pieces of cloth that easily slid off of Minato's body. Thankfully, he kept his underwear which, although extremely faded and deteriorated, still held firm enough to preserve a little bit of modesty.

Lucky guy, I could count the number of times Beni's underwear didn't meet the same fate as the rest of her clothes after being exposed to her power on the fingers of 1 hand. However, he still caused discomfort to our Ashikabi so, with a weary sigh, I shifted in Kara's arms to take off my haori. It might be weathered, beaten and bloody but it sure as hell beat strutting about naked. After a quick visit to the Living Realm and back, Minato gratefully put on the haori, the size difference between us letting him wear it like a loose trench coat.

Modesty preserved, we now had a chance to look around as the dust finally began to settle. The first thing we saw was the gargantuan spider that was Uzume. It was really difficult to miss the 10 story high white spider that slowly scanned the area, looking for its missing prey. Considering the entire Junction area, something along the lines of a football field, was now a jumbled mess of rock and twisted metal, finding something specific that was hiding from you was quite difficult. The Sekirei facing off Uzume were probably hiding and regrouping right now, trying to figure out what to do.

A crunch of rock brought our attention to our left and slightly behind as we watched Higa stumble out of the thinning dust cloud with Kujou still in his arms, mere meters away from us. The young man looked like crap; his expensive suit spotted multiple rips and even a dribble of blood, not to mention the dust that was everywhere which colored his hair and face grey, making him look decades older. He was panting, a slow dribble of blood dripped from his left temple down his face and onto his suit.

The Sekirei he carried looked barely lucid, her face still extremely red and I could even see a faint heat wave emanate from her core. I think that at this point, Kujou was one step in the termination zone, a little push and she'll terminate herself to prevent damage to her Tama. In fact, I think it's only her will that keeps her alive at this point, she has severely overused her power in this fight.

"You…" Higa rasped, staring at Minato in surprise that quickly turned to furious anger. "You bastard, where the fuck were you?"

Higa stumbled and fell to his knees, the sharp rocks eliciting several choice swears from the man even as he clutched his Sekirei to his chest.

"I-I fell and hit my head when Musubi let me go by accident." Minato licked his dry lips nervously before continuing. "I tried to get back but then a skyscraper almost fell on me."

"Tch." Higa sneered even as he pulled out a water bottle from an inner pocket of his suit and gently wetted Kujou's lips with the liquid, drawing a sigh of relief from the Sekirei. "I likely story, as expected from someone like you."

"It's true." Chiho intervened into the conversation. "He just came to a couple minutes ago just in time for the skyscraper to fall."

"And he decided to take refuge amongst his enemies." Higa looked at Minato as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "Seriously? I mean, sure this is the Disciplinary Squad but what if they were someone else? Or what if they decided that they could cause an 'accident' to happen with you?"

"Hey!" Chiho narrowed her brows at Higa's audacity. "We are the Arbiters for a reason! We make sure the rules are followed, we don't break them ourselves!"

"…" Higa sighed and then looked back at Minato's confused expression. "What? Don't you know what happens when an Ashikabi dies?"

"Erm, no?" Minato scratched his head in embracement causing everyone else to stare at him in surprise. "I've never actually asked…"

"There's a reason we went so far to come here and protect Chiho, even though I was practically dying of exhaustion." I remarked, still surprised. I'd have thought that Takehito or Miya or hell, even Matsu would've told him! "I mean, sure we could've let Uzume, Haihane and Beni protect her but we came anyway. Why?"

"If an Ashikabi dies, so do all of his Sekirei." Higa smiled wickedly at Minato's horrified expression. "And here you are, acting without any care at all. Not understanding that your death will cause the instant death of all of your Sekirei."

"Damn it, Kujou." Higa turned his attention back to the Sekirei still in his arms and gently gave her a bit more water. "Don't you dare die on me! I order you to survive, as your Master, as your Ashikabi. You hear me?"

"Here." Beni sighed as she took out a pill from her medical pouch and offered it to Higa. "This is a Tama stabilizer. Useful for whenever a Tama is starting to go out of control like here. She stressed her core far too much and it's destabilizing now."

"You are helping me?" Higa asked even as he took the pill. "Why?"

"Not you." Kara replied with a twist of her lips. "The Disciplinary Squad exists to protect the Sekirei. That, and Chiho here is quite adamant that we don't terminate any Sekirei."

"It's true." Chiho nodded solemnly at Higa's silent question. "I don't want any Sekirei to die, not if I can help it."

"That and…" Chiho hesitated slightly before continuing. "Takami told me what happens to the Ashikabi if their Sekirei dies."

Higa looked at her, his eyes dull, clearly not quite all there.

"Yes," He looked quite weary as he quietly acknowledged what Chiho said. "Thank you."

"W-wait." Minato drew attention of us all, Higa excluded as he was busy getting the busty Sekirei in his arms to swallow the pill. "What happens to Ashikabi if a Sekirei dies?"

"The bond is a 2-way street." Kara replied, her features serious. "Breaking it in either way is extremely harmful for everyone involved. Everyone still alive that is."

"You lost one, didn't you?" Haihane said, breaking her silence, as she addressed Higa.

"Yes." Higa closed his eyes, his hands tightening around Kujou. "I've lost a Sekirei in a fight in the North."

"You look much better than those Ashikabi that I've seen lose a Sekirei." I looked over Higa. "Is it perhaps because you have so many?"

"Strange, isn't it?" Kara mused, her eyes on the silent Ashikabi before us. "That so many of our kin would pursue this man. I honestly do not see anything worthy in him."

"I don't know why you Sekirei kept coming to me." Higa opened his eyes wearily. "One after another, Sekirei came to me to get wings, claiming that they were my destined ones."

"I…I should hate your kind for doing this to me." Higa sighed bitterly. "For having me involved in this stupid game when I am doing all I can to keep the company that generations of Izumi have put their lives into intact. For forcing me to live with the fear that you'll die and I'll suffer another backlash of the bond breaking."

"But…" He raised his right hand to his face, staring at a white ring with a large amethyst in it. "I can't. She…they...they make me feel alive. For the first time in years."

"And I'll do anything to stay this way." He gently lowered Kujou on the ground and covered her with a jacket he took off, making sure she was warm from this night. He then glanced at Minato with a serious expression. "You might merely coast along, all of your achievement spoon fed to you by your parents but I…I will go out there and I will fight to the end to end MBI and this wretched plan. You said you don't want to ally with me, fine. Stay out of my way."

"I am going back into the fight because my Sekirei are worth it." He stood up and turned in a seemingly random direction, his eyes focused on something we couldn't see before adding more in a much softer tone. "Because they think I am worth it."

"L-Lord Higa!" A couple shapes appeared in the darkness and rushed over to Higa. "You're alright!"

We looked on as a bloody Oriha stopped before Higa and knelt before him, her dress in shreds that barely covered anything. Her disks, a couple dozen of beaten and wobbly things, floated around her, hanging near her back. Beside her knelt Oshina, looking far better than her sister Sekirei but also weary and sporting quite a few bloody scratches throughout her body.

"Rise." Higa said with conviction and power in his voice like a king addressing his noble knights. "The fight is not yet over. We must win this so we can all go back."

"Yes Master!" Oriha stood up in a hurry but swayed when her legs wobbled, her injuries catching up to her. Before she could fall though, Higa saved her. "M-master but I…you'll get dirty!"

Higa coughed and suddenly began laughing quietly. Oshina soon joined in and then even the embarrassed Sekirei began giggling softly, her gentle voice joining in.

"Beautiful…" I turned to see Chiho sniffle, tears pouring down her face.

"Minato!" We turned to see Minato get bowled over by 3 Sekirei who moved so fast that they would've seemed like blurs to a normal human. The poor man didn't even get a chance to so much as finish raising his eyebrows in surprise before he ended up on the ground, buried by 3 bodies. I snickered at the fact that one of those bodies was the partially armoured Yashima and knowing the general luck of this world I bet one of those armour pieces hit something important.

"You are alive!" Musubi sobbed as she clutched his right arm, the only part of his body she could grab. "I am sorry, I am so sorry!"

"Y-yea, I-" Was all he could say before Yashima grabbed him by the collar of the haori and kissed him passionately on the spot, her bright blue wings flooding the small clearing.

"You are fine…" Yashima said softly after letting him go and looking at him in the eyes briefly before kissing him once more.

"H-hey!" Tsukiumi narrowed her ocean blue eyes at this usurpation as she straddled his left arm. "G-give others a chance too! I-I w-want to kiss him too!"

However, before either of the 2 had a chance to answer, an irritated chitter made half the people present break out in cold sweat. We all looked up to see an annoyed Uzume stare at us, her gigantic spider face mere meters away from us. Huh, how could I understand that Uzume was annoyed? I mean…spiders can't make faces…can they? Whatever, this is yet another thing that will go into 'I'll think about this sometime later, maybe' box.

Meanwhile, Uzume returned to her previous position and instead raised her 2 frontal legs in a slow, deliberate manner, allowing her opponents to take a wild guess at what's going to happen next. Seeing a gigantic spider show you that it's about to crush you is quite intimidating. Strangely, unlike her sister Sekirei, Yashima didn't freeze in fear but rather in thought as she contemplated something before resolutely nodding.

"If I force her to stand still, can you finish that thing off?" She asked Higa's Sekirei as she quickly jumped up and grabbed her massive hammer. Behind her, Tsukiumi grabbed Minato, not trusting him to Musubi who took a stance beside Yashima. Higa in the meanwhile gently picked up Kujou and prepared to run at a moment's notice. Oshina stood on guard, a massive imaginary zweihander in her arms while Oriha forced her disks to spin once more, what used to be a simple gesture now took quite a bit of effort from the beaten girl.

"Yes! I can finish her off!" Oriha jumped at the opportunity instantly before she looked at Higa and blushed. "T-that is if Master is w-willing…t-to-"

"Right." Yashima took a deep breath and charged after seeing a nod from Higa. "By my Ashikabi's love."

"Thus I pledge," She put on a surprising burst of speed to dodge Uzume's claws as the spider realized that she was about to use a Norito and was trying to prevent it. "The Gravity of our Bond will subdue all who oppose him!"

"Gravity Well!" Yashima cried out as she smashed her hammer, which was like a shining blue star at this point, into the ground slightly before the gargantuan white spider. There was a bright blue, almost white, flash from the impact and we had to look away to avoid the brightness. When we looked back, I could feel my jaw drop from shock.

Spread around the embedded hammer was a large pale blue circle, large enough to encompass Uzume body and parts of her legs. Strangely, there was a tiny circle inside, just large enough for Yashima to stand in, creating a dead zone. In the rest of the circle however, it could be clearly seen that there was a massive amount of pressure on everything caught inside. Rubble shifted and compressed into a single entity and the very air itself condensed down into a thick fog. The sudden change in pressure caused a gigantic vortex to form around the circle as the air tried to equalize the pressure.

The most important part however, was what happened to Uzume. She lay down on her belly upon the rubble, twitching, unable to move. Her legs jittered, trying to get her to stand up but she couldn't, for the pressure was too strong. In fact, I could see her legs repeatedly tear and repair themselves from the stress exerted on them.

"What are you waiting for!?" Yashima scream reached us faintly over the din of her Norito working. "I can't hold her for much longer!"

This seemed to startle Higa into action. He walked over briskly to Oriha who stood, frozen in anticipation, her eyes glistening at the thought of what was about to happen. Higa gently cupped her chin and kissed her looking her straight into her dark grey eyes. Steel wings, made up of what seemed like thousands of tiny moving gears erupted from Oriha's back, stretching out for meters and illuminating the night. I must say, these must be the most unique wings I've seen to date – not that I've seen many. Oriha sighed sadly as Higa slowly leaned out of the kiss and shook her head, her sad look replaced by determination and fire in her eyes. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Beni, looking at the ever smouldering flame in her pale red eyes. How fascinating, they were nearly the same. Different colors though, whereas Beni's was red like her eyes, Oriha's was silvery which were of a different color than her eyes.

"These are the gears of my Contract." Oriha pointed her hand at Uzume and suddenly dozens if not hundreds of flying disks rose up from the ground and levitated to form 9 massive gears around Oriha. "Slice the enemy of my Ashikabi into nothingness."

"Moon Slasher!" She slashed with her hand down and the gears launched themselves, 1 by 1 in a rapid order in a random fashion at the gigantic spider lying helpless on the ground.

"Uzume!" Chiho stood in panic, worrying that her Sekirei will die from this seemingly inescapable attack.


	48. Gate:Detonation

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Mmm, it's nice to have people create accounts just to review on my story. Makes me feel like it's actually a good one.

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><p>The rapidly spinning gears hacked their way through the powered silk that made up Uzume's body without any sort of resistance whatsoever. So great was their might in fact that some of them buried themselves deep into the concrete, far beyond their height, leaving only ragged holes in their wake. Others, who had more of an angle to them, ricocheted off the rubble behind Uzume and flew in all sorts of angles. I watched as they clove through the skyscrapers, their destabilizing structure making some of the ricochet in random angles inside the buildings, tearing them apart. Some of them even fell to pieces on contact, acting like a flak cannon as razor sharp disks flew everywhere.<p>

Uzume screeched in pain when the first couple disks tore great chunks of her body off before a third disk clove her in 2 when it hit her head. Over the next couple seconds the disks left nothing but a pile of silk in place of what used to be a gigantic spider.

"Yes!" Oriha cried out in relief and promptly passed out, the fight combined with using her Norito completely draining the girl. Oshina caught her before she fell, a gigantic smile on her face as she too, celebrated the fall of the enemy they tried so hard to defeat.

"We did it!" Musubi jumped up and down in joy, forgetting about her own injuries for a moment. In fact, none of those present got away from fighting Uzume without any injuries. Kujou was unconscious and without the pill Beni gave to Higa her prognosis would be unclear at best. Oshina and Oriha were covered in scratches and bruises, Oriha more so than Oshina as she got chased by Uzume for half the fight. Musubi sported several nasty looking tears in her flesh from the spears she barely dodged when trying to climb Uzume. Tsukiumi and Yashima had the least amount of injuries; Tsukiumi had a couple bruises from a few rocks she failed to dodge – hard to when there's dozens of them thrown at you – while Yashima had no injuries to show as she took all the hits on her armour but I bet there's bruising beneath.

"Uzume…" Chiho slowly sank to the ground in shock. I frowned, from what I've seen on the island, this shouldn't be enough to kill Uzume…should it? I mean, when she canceled her form it exploded into silk strands, far finer than the mess of torn chunks lying before us and she was completely fine.

"Feel her, Chiho." I leaned out of Kara's arms and grabbed Chiho by her shoulders, looking into her wild eyes. "Use the bond, you can tell if she's alive."

"I…" Chiho closed her eyes and concentrated before intense relief flooded her face. Huh, I guess I was right, Uzume is still alive. When she gets back here, we need to have a talk. We…well, mostly Chiho, need to know the functions of her Norito so that next time we won't have to worry.

A rumbling sound caught my attention and we all looked over to see the skyscraper directly behind Uzume shake, pieces of it coming down. It looks like the gears that ricocheted into the building caused so much damage that it was falling apart. Wait…Uzume is right beneath it… I don't want to know just how great her survivability in that form of hers is. I stood up, Kara giving me a slight push as she understood what I wanted to do – difficult not to, she also felt the incredible concern Chiho had for Uzume.

I dashed through the rubble to where Uzume's body lay or what was left of it, my first several steps unstable as I had to overpower my fatigue. I could hear everyone else shout in surprise as they scrambled for cover. The 'scrambling' was well rehearsed as this was now a third skyscraper that fell in the past 15 minutes.

I disregarded them all as I ran into the Gravity Well of Yashima's Norito. Right before me was the pile of silk that was Uzume. As I slowed down to scan the pile for traces of the Sekirei, I found her practically instantly. Well, I found her head as the rest was buried below the silk as she couldn't get out due to increased gravity.

"I can't hold any longer, Lady Rei." Yashima apologized in a stressed tone even as I reached for Uzume, Gate:Swap activating. She, just like I, noticed Uzume practically instantly but chose against telling everyone else. Why, I don't know, maybe they are friends or something? I should ask Uzume later.

I touched Uzume a split second after Yashima gave a tired sigh and released her hammer, the circle glowing blue flickering before disappearing. The moment it did, the whole ground turned into a landscape ported straight from Armageddon by Yashima truly.

In hindsight, I should've realized that the real striking power of Yashima's Norito was not the increased gravity generated by the Gravity Well but what happens after said Gravity Well suddenly disappears. I mean, I did absorb some physics knowledge from Archive. I should've known what was coming.

In fact, I thought as I stood with Uzume climbing out of her silk, Archive had schematics for something called 'Vacuum Bomb' and what I was seeing was the direct reverse of that. The way the 'Vacuum Bomb' worked was that it created a point of 0 pressure. Where normal pressure for a planet like Earth was roughly 100 kPa thanks to gravity, having abnormal pressure of 0 Pa was devastating as the air rushed in to equalize the pressure.

Here, the situation was reversed. If I were to pull some abstract numbers, let's say the pressure generated by Gravity Well is 10G or 10 times Earth gravity. That would mean that it can hold roughly 10 times the amount of air in the same area resulting in 10 times normal pressure. And then, suddenly, that gravity pull is returned to its usual value when Gravity Well fell. Of course air would rush out to equalize with the rest of the world, generating an incredible blast or air and whatever said air picked up in the process.

The failing skyscraper was blasted back and practically ripped off its foundation by the point blank blast wave created of decompressing air, spraying debris across half of the city. The cyclone that was born from the Gravity Well that practically died down around us was shredded by the same blast wave. All around, buildings groaned and bent, trying to weather sudden assault.

It was the glass that gave way first. Failing to show the same bending ability of the concrete encased steel that the skyscrapers were made of; the glass shattered and was instantly swept up by air to be sprayed all across the metropolis. Next was the rubble of the broken Junction, picked up and tossed randomly all over by the wild wind. Lastly, 4 skyscrapers failed the trial by air and fell onto the rest of the city, collapsing other buildings as they went.

And just like that, it was over. The whole thing lasted only 4 or 5 seconds and devastated a good portion of the city around the Junction. I must say, I wanted to wreck a bit to show Minaka that having us in combat with other Sekirei wasn't a good idea but I hardly expected for most of western downtown to be turned into rubble in process. Yashima's Norito is quite something. From what I understand, it's literally a charged bomb, with the locking down portion of it merely being a side effect as it charges to unleash its true destructive power. What a terrifying ability the brown haired stalker girl I rescued a year ago has. Of course, had she not charged it to maximum, as she suppressed Uzume, the damage would've been far less but we have what we have. And what we have is that now I know that Beni isn't the only Siege-Type Sekirei out there; now I know Yashima is a Siege-Type as well.

Sirens pierced the night and red glimpses of fires began to crawl up the surviving buildings. Seeing as the mist and dust were blown away by Yashima's Gravity Well going off, we could clearly see the devastation around us.

"Holy Shit." Uzume looked around with wild eyes until she stopped on Yashima who sat on the ground, staring at the destruction she caused. "I am not going against you again."

"I-" Yashima was silenced by a whining noise and then an explosion rocked the ground. We looked back and I immediately recognised the burning wreck as a helicopter. It must've been damaged by the hell that went on mere seconds ago and crashed. But what the hell was it doing above us in the first place; was it a spy?

"Minato…" The sudden explosion seemed to wake up Yashima. Abandoning the moral torment of what she has done, the girl stood up and focused on finding her Ashikabi. I smiled, it was a good mental defense mechanism we Sekirei had. When in doubt, refer to Ashikabi. Honestly, I was surprised that her Ashikabi survived at all, given the hell she unleashed. I wasn't worried about Chiho at all, considering she'll be stuck in Spirit Realm for another half an hour or so, but I did have worries for Haihane and Beni. Especially Beni, my cute little sister. Haihane's element was wind after all, and even in her condition I doubt her own element will injure her. Beni on the other hand was at risk. I hope she's alright but given the fact that her Shock Shield starts off really weak and only ramps up in strength after a while and the fact that the blast wave blew out immediately…

"Let's go." I grabbed Uzume by the elbow and pulled her in the direction the shining star that was Chiho lay. Uzume looked at me in surprise, not understanding the worry on my face, but ran after me in silence, her veils carrying her with incredible speed.

We arrived just in time to see everyone finish excavating themselves and each other from the rubble. Higa stood alone, looking at his Sekirei lying before him with calm resignation. Judging by the fact that he wasn't trying to kill himself to escape the torment of the bonds breaking and the fact that I saw Kujou at least breathing, I think that they all lived but were unconscious for now. Considering only Oshino was awake and battle ready when I left I guess she did something that saved her and her sisters.

"Uzume!" Chiho charged and bowled over Uzume with a gleeful tackle as she babbled on about how she was so worried about her Shroud. Uzume simply smiled happily and rubbed her Ashikabi's back, stating that it took more to kill her then that. She did thank me for getting her out alive though, she had major concerns about getting out from Gravity Well explosion alive, without her Norito to soak the damage.

Meanwhile, off to the side, Kara was directing Haihane – who looked exactly as when I left, meaning she suffered absolutely no damage – as she bandaged an unconscious Beni who was bleeding from her head. I dashed over but a quick check with Kara revealed that she was only knocked out and the bleeding was from a few cuts she received on harsh landing.

"Quite lucky." Kara remarked as Haihane finished bandaging Beni's head and went back to clutching her ribs in pain. "She got knocked out cold by the blast wave which took her behind Higa and that Oshino Sekirei."

"So Oshino did something that saved everyone?" I raised an eyebrow. From what I saw, anything Oshino imagined into being shattered easily so how could she create something that could withstand the debris brought in by the shockwave?

"Yes." Kara nodded in satisfaction after checking Haihane's bandage work. She may not be able to touch Beni on the count of still being stuck in the Spirit Realm but it seems like she has enough experience in first aid to be able to tell just by sight. "She shouted something about an 'Aegis' and then a giant 7 petal barrier rose into existence in front of her. Unlike her previous creations, this barrier soaked a lot of damage, with its petals breaking one by one to signify it's weakening. Quite a handy ability but quite power intensive as she passed out immediately after the assault was over and the nearly broken barrier faded."

"Well, she shielded her Ashikabi and everyone around her," I mused, impressed by Oshino's ability. I wonder what her Norito is. "Totally worth it I think."

Kara simply nodded in agreement. I, in the meanwhile, turned to the final group that was here with us in the fire illuminated scenery. Minato was propped up against a giant piece of rubble, its huge size preventing the blast wave from taking it, as his Sekirei fussed around him. In the uneven light of the burning helicopter, which happened to be directly across from him, I could see something lodged deep into his shoulder, giving him quite a bit of grief judging by the pained gasps he gave.

"What happened to him?" I nodded at Minato who now had Tsukiumi create a small water bubble around the injury to capture and hold the blood he was leaking profusely from his shoulder.

"The kid?" Kara turned to face him and a thin exasperated grin twisted her lips. "That water Sekirei of his nearly overheated her Tama but managed to hold a water dome that deflected everything that went their way. Quite impressive, truthfully."

"Then what's that in his shoulder?" I pointed at the prolonged object that glinted strangely in the light, it wasn't a dull stone but neither was it the shine of a metal. Minato's Sekirei seemed to avoid it at all costs while still trying to do something about it.

"That's a Jinki." After taking a moment to smile at my stupefied expression, Kara continued. "When the helicopter crashed and exploded, that thing flew out with the rest of the metal shrapnel and nailed the kid in the shoulder."

"If Minaka planned this, he is more insane than I thought." I sighed, my face in my hands. "What if it hit him in the head or something."

"Oh well." Kara's smile grew malicious before she continued, her features schooled to a calm indifference. "At least we fulfilled Chiho's command: we got through the match without terminating anyone."

"Wha- Oh, right." I laughed softly. The goal of this was to get the Jinki and considering Minato 'got' the damned crystal, there was no point fighting anymore. "So, time to go home?"

"Yea!" Uzume cheered as she and Chiho joined us. "Let's go party!"

"Yes." Kara nodded with a smile that promised much suffering to Uzume, a silhouette of the evil crow flickering to life around her. "I think we can do a party before you go forth to your doom, Uzume."

"W-what?" Said Sekirei twitched as she hid Chiho's face in her bosom, hiding her from the pure malice of Kara's aura. Generally, Uzume was quite weak to Kara showing that abomination of hers due to her prolonged experience with Miya's variant but this time she had Chiho to protect so she faced the thing head on. Of course, the fact that her knees were shaking, sort of ruined the 'white knight' show Uzume put on, but details.

"I like your idea about power management when you are in that spider form of yours." Kara drawled, slowly approaching Uzume who cringed. "But your skill with it is so pathetic that not only you got beat by this rabble, you also had to be rescued by Rei at last second."

"You and Haihane will take Chiho and go practise your Noritos tomorrow." Kara finished with a tone that suggested that any reply aside from 'Yes ma'am!' will be met with a miasma covered blade. So there was absolutely no surprise at all when Haihane, Uzume and Chiho all chorused in agreement.

Kara was distracted from instilling the fear of god – as in her – into the trio by the sound of approaching helicopters. We all looked up to see a trio of MBI choppers approach. In fact, the sky was totally flooded with MBI helicopters as they scrambled to go out and evacuate the people in the damaged parts of the city. Hundreds of sirens from all over the metropolis merged into an unintelligible din as emergency crews rode out in battalions to aid those caught by the consequences of our fight.

When Takami rushed out of the helicopter and dashed to her injured son, none of us were particularly surprised. Neither were we surprised when Akitsu climbed out, glanced at Takami fussing over Minato, and headed over to us. We were surprised when the rest of crew that climbed out of the helicopters headed over to Higa's Sekirei though. Especially when he drew and fired a gun at them in warning to stay away. Judging by it's size, the recoil and the fact that the bullet made a fist sized hole in the helicopter it hit, I'd say that it was something he carried as a Sekirei deterrent. So it was quite understandable when the rescue workers halted and backed down from the man defending his Sekirei.

"Get back." Higa commanded, his tired black eyes showing steel, as he aimed at the nearest worked who blanched and raised his hands to show he's unarmed. "I have my own hospital where they can recover and I won't have your filthy MBI fingers on anything or anyone that belongs to me."

"But we need to recover the terminated Seki-" The man who spoke up barely had the time to duck as another shot rang out; the bullet whizzed by where his head was and knocked over a boulder before ricocheting to gods know where.

"I said," Higa calmly continued, as if he didn't just try to murder someone in cold blood, taking aim at another random nearby man. "You won't touch them."

I take back what I said about Higa taking the death of his Sekirei fairly well. Something changed in him that day when he had to suffer through the agony of having a bond broken. It's clear from the way he fanatically defended his Sekirei. I cant tell if it's a good or a bad thing though. On one hand, as an Ashikabi, this change was obviously good. He, unlike the Higa I saw back before, was willing to do anything to protect his Sekirei and – as seen by his gestures and actions – now actually cared for the birds he winged. I mean, I saw the potential in him weeks ago when I dueled Toyotama but now it seems it was brought out in full.

On the bad end of things, he was now clearly willing to do anything to protect his Sekirei and that meant that he was now willing to do anything to win this 'game'. So, unless Kara and I are going to hang around Chiho 24 hours a day to protect her against assassins and snipers, I'll need to go and call in that favour Higa owes me.

I got pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of ice breaking. Looking at the situation, in a hurry to see what I missed, I saw Akitsu stand calmly, her frigid expression not changing a bit, before 4 Sekirei that stood in guarded stances before Higa who was shaking ice off his clothes. Hmm, it seems that Higa had another group on standby nearby that he called in otherwise how did Toyotama, Ichiya, Kaiha and some girl with hair that looked like dog ears and whips in her hands arrive so fast. Hmm, it would seem that there's an abnormal amount of Sekirei with whips or whip type weapons…er, not the best time to think about this right now.

Anyway, it looks like they arrived just in the nick of time. It seems like Akitsu grew bored of the standoff and froze Higa. Considering Toyotama was the nearest to Higa and the fact that her staff glowed a faint purple, I can figure out what happened easily. Toyotama was once again proving herself to be a Mage Slayer.

"Wait!" Chiho called out as she, with Uzume warily watching over her – a silly notion considering they were both in the Spirit Realm – walked to stand between the 2 groups. "Why are you fighting? The 3rd Round is over, Mr. Sahashi has the Jinki."

"We need to recover the terminated Sekirei." One of the rescue workers, a weathered man past his prime, said patiently, clearly having dealt with unreasonable Ashikabi before.

"But they are only unconscious, not dead." Chiho said in confusion as she looked at Kujou, Oriha and Oshino.

"Leave." Akitsu finally said to both parties after looking back at Kara who nodded, verifying Chiho's words. "The 3rd Round is now over, the winner is Minato Sahashi."


	49. Gate:Surprises

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Well, considering I wont be doing anything but partying on the New Year's Eve and after, I might as well congratulate you all with it now!

Happy New Years! May grandpa Frost grant you great presents! (for those who know about him and/or still believe in him)

С Новым Годом!

* * *

><p>"So, Uzume," I drawled as I stared hard at the aforementioned Sekirei who sat with Chiho in her lap. "Mind giving us the long overdue explanation on your Norito?"<p>

"Erm," Uzume swallowed when Kara turned to her as well, her gaze pressuring the poor silk Sekirei as if it was solid. "What's t-to tell? Y-you saw everything y-yourself."

"How about you start with how the hell you survived being torn to shreds?" Haihane rasped as she cradled unconscious Beni in her lap. "I saw you get turned into a pile of torn silk and yet here you are; better off than me or Benitsubasa."

"W-well," Uzume squirmed uncomfortably as even Chiho turned to look at her, interested in Uzume's answer. "I become the spider. IT's literally my new body while I am using the Norito. S-so long as there is still a piece of that body big enough somewhere, I can recreate my original body there."

"What do you mean, recreate?" I asked, puzzled. "I thought you could only create silk."

"Ehehe, maybe not the best word used." Uzume laughed uncomfortably and then huffed after a couple seconds of thinking. "Jeez, I don't know alright? I just know that I lose consciousness the moment I activate my Norito and when I wake up, I am a giant spider! Same thing with deactivating it: I just wake up in my original body wherever I want so long as there's a big enough part of the spider in the area I want to appear in. I tried waking up in a piece of my leg to escape Yashima's Norito but I couldn't."

"So," Kara broke the silence that descended on the helicopter cabin after Uzume's frustrated rant. "So long as there's a piece of you somewhere that is big enough, you can spawn there even if your Norito is completely destroyed. Interesting, have you tried shooting a big spike or something to a safe location where you can appear if things go bad?"

Uzume opened and closed her mouth several times, each time slowly increasing the size of Kara's grin.

"Thanks." She finally said and remained deep in thought for the rest of the trip.

* * *

><p>"Hey Kara," I called softly as we lay in our bed, getting ready to sleep. "You do remember that Uzume's Norito is unusable for another 24 or so hours, right?"<p>

"…Tch." Kara sighed as she lay in my arms, staring at the ceiling in contempt. "Now I do. This 'cooldown' thing is really inconvenient. Can't train while waiting for it to end and can't use it for the fear of it not being available when needed."

I didn't say anything; there was no point in doing so. We both saw Uzume's condition after we came home and she stopped putting up a brave face. Although she technically was within the time limit of this 'cooldown', cutting it so close did have its negative effects.

Granted, all she got was a killer headache that a couple tablets of aspirin calmed down but it was enough to force her to stay sober. Chiho told her that mixing drugs, like aspirin, and alcohol has killed millions of people so there was no way she'll let her drink. That and Kara brought out her pseudo-Norito-of-absolute-evil and warned Uzume that if she dared to die from a silly cause like that then Kara will shatter her Tama to prevent that kind of stupidity from passing on.

Honestly though, no one drank that night, well, aside from me and Kara drinking a glass of wine. Chiho claimed she was underage for drinking, which made no sense to me. I mean, she's old enough to do everything else so what the hell Japan? Beni was on aspirin too, her head hurt after she woke up in the helicopter we took to get home. Haihane was on painkiller for her ribs so she was out too. I was too tired for a party and Kara just didn't feel like it, still disappointed she didn't participate in such a fun fight.

Next morning was a fairly sombre affair as a disheveled Akitsu joined for breakfast with some nightly news. Judging by her terrible shape, I don't think she got any sleep at all as she had to take the reins of overseeing the rescue operations. When asked where Takami was in all of this, the ice Sekirei sighed tiredly and said that her Ashikabi was busy figuring out what the hell was going on with Minato.

"He somehow partially absorbed the Jinki into his body." Akitsu's casual revelation sent us all into shock.

"That's pretty much the reaction of everyone who knows." Akitsu gave a faint tired smile. "Takami lit her own lab coat on fire by accident when her cigarette fell out of her mouth. Anyway, she and Takehito are still trying to figure out what's going on and how it's even possible in the first place so I am afraid we'll have to wait until they finish to hear what's really going on."

"H-how's the rescue effort?" I tried to switch the topic, away from the most bizarre piece of news I've ever heard.

"Terrible." Akitsu closed her eyes tiredly, taking a short rest. "The damage done destroyed most of the west sector of Shinto Teito as well as a good portion of the downtown. A good part of the East still burns as several gas stations were destroyed by the debris and lit everything around them on fire. Early estimates put the total dead anywhere from 50 thousand to 100 thousand."

Well, shit. Bad topic change is bad.

"W-wha-?" Chiho stuttered, the sheer scope of the destruction and death caused by yesterday's fight that didn't even last an hour chocking her.

"As if the destruction in the North wasn't enough with it's 200 dead and a thousand injured," Akitsu carried on, her eyes still closed. "Now I have to deal with this. Fucking Minaka and his stupidity. Making Sekirei fight inside of a densely populated city, what was that fu-?"

She opened her eyes in surprise as I kissed her, silencing the cool woman and preventing my world from completely shattering. I've had enough shocking news today, thank you very much, I don't want to hear the calm, chill woman I very much admire and love suddenly start swearing. I mean, this is the first time I've ever heard her do it and it honestly didn't fit her.

Akitsu's eyes slowly closed in pleasure as she began to answer my kiss, her hands roaming across my body. She took full advantage of the fact that I don't put on my armour until after breakfast as I felt her pleasantly cold hands slip under my suit and start to wander about, causing a shudder of desire to pass through my body.

"Khm." We hesitantly broke apart to find an unimpressed Kara stare at us. "I can close my eyes on a kiss but this is going beyond something I can ignore here."

"I see." Akitsu calmly glanced around as I watched a completely red Chiho and Beni look away while Uzume and Haihane cheered us on silently. "Let's go Rei."

"Eh?" I found myself getting pulled upright and directed to the door by the icy woman. "W-what? W-where?"

"My room of course." Akitsu answered casually, only a faint reddening of her cheeks showing her true intentions. Her nonchalant answer sent Chiho and Beni into a coughing fit while Haihane and Uzume high fived each other, Haihane wincing as she did so. Kara on the other hand stood up and willed her terrifying apparition to come to life. For some reason, the twisted crow that leaked miasma of pure corruption and malice seemed clearer and far more solid than I've ever seen it. Of course, it wasn't anywhere close to corporeal state the Norito brings it into but still…

"No." Kara said, a sickly sweet smile on her face as she took a step forward. Akitsu stopped and looked at the crow specter around Kara with wary interest. Suddenly, the temperature in the room plummeted and frost began to creep through the floor around the ice Sekirei. A flurry of snow swirled around Akitsu, forming a…something behind her that twisted and changed dozens of times a second, driving us sick just by looking at it. The closest description I could come up with was a shapeless monstrosity made up of tendrils and tentacles.

"Oh gods, there's three of them now!" Uzume practically cried as she watched Akitsu's monster square off against Kara's crow apparition. Chiho hid her face in Uzume's bountiful chest while Beni and Haihane ducked for cover under the table.

"Umm…" I glanced between the 2 women I loved, understanding just how screwed I was no matter the outcome.

When my and Kara's phone rang suddenly, I, for the first - and hopefully last – time praised Minaka's timing feverishly.

"Sorry Akitsu," I tapped my earing to turn off the device and turned to the woman who looked at me and Kara in silent resignation. "The White Clown wants to see us."

Akitsu closed her eyes tiredly and nodded, the monstrosity behind her falling apart into the snow from which it was created as the temperature in the room rapidly returned to normal. It was fascinating how there is now 3 Sekirei who can use this intimidation tactic and each one of the uses a different method to accomplish the exact same result. Where Kara simply calls in an incomplete version of her Norito into reality, Akitsu seems to actively use her power to create a monster and all of the effects that follow it's arrival. I'll think more on this later, right now Akitsu was turning away with a sad frown on her face that just doesn't belong on my beloved woman.

"I'll make up to you later." I whispered as I broke away from a swift but passionate kiss with the icy Sekirei.

* * *

><p>"What a hectic day this is already and the morning isn't even over yet!" Minaka winked at us with a cheerful smile as he sat behind his desk, dozens of papers projected by his holographic table floating before him. "Clean up reports of North Sector escape attempt battle…autopsy report of a certain corpse, charred beyond any normal recognition…downtown structural integrity scan report…West Sector rescue and containment report – did you know it's still on fire? - …hospitals of Shinto Teito out of room notice…Takami's report on Minato's situation…"<p>

"When I initiated the 3rd Stage I never knew that it'd be so lively!" Minaka laughed as he spun on his chair. "So fun! This battle has given me a glimpse of what the Age of Gods was like and I want it more than ever before now!"

Kara and I exchanged a defeated look before we sighed synchronously. Leave it to the madman to ignore the consequences of his actions in favour of staring at his dream. It's like Minaka simply didn't see them. He didn't see or care about the thousands – no, millions – that this 'plan' of his has harmed in one way or another.

"You may have lost this fight due to unforeseeable circumstances but don't worry!" Minaka leaned back onto the table. "There'll be a Jinki for you too!"

"We only lost because you rushed the fight." Kara remarked, her tone quite dangerous. "You forced the fight on our day off, what the fuck Minaka?"

"My dear Karasuba," Minaka licked his lips nervously as Kara's apparition came to life, dimming the light in the room with its mere presence. Hmm, it looks like Kara picked up a thing or 2 from Akitsu's version of this intimidation tactic; she was fine with it merely existing rather than add a couple more theatrical effects. "I am terribly sorry that I had to cut your 'vacation' time short but it came to my attention that 'Sekirei Plan' must be finished by the next full moon."

"…" We stared at him blankly before Kara voiced our reaction. "What? Why?"

"I am sorry but I cannot reveal why just yet." Minaka donned a serious face for a moment. "I've only came to understand it yesterday myself."

"How long is that anyway?" I scratched my forehead in thought.

"12 Days from now." Minaka stood up and walked over to the window overseeing the smoke covered city. "Within 12 days, the fate of this world will be resolved."

"What?" I asked in surprise. What fate?

"Elizabeth wanted to see you 2." Minaka ignored me and went back to his desk, opening new documents. "Wouldn't want to keep her waiting now, hmm?"

* * *

><p>"Takehito and Matsu wont make it." I stated simply as I leaned against the wall of the elevator.<p>

"Doesn't matter, they were always merely a backup plan." Kara sighed in content as she did the same thing except she used me instead of the wall. I smiled gently as I embraced her and we stood silently, thinking.

Much like Kara, I never honestly believed that Matsu and Takehito could wrestle the Jinki away from the White Clown's control in time. Takehito might be the man who wrote the theory behind the basics of Sekirei and Jinki while Matsu was probably the smartest Sekirei – debatable on the account of Akitsu – in existence, but when faced with overwhelming enemies such as: incredibly limited time, advanced alien technology, alien logic and an insane genius who was probably the smarted human alive, I never actually expected them to succeed. It would've been wonderful if they did but we have our own plan.

The ding of the elevator arriving rose us from our thoughts and we made our way to Elizabeth's office which was nearby the elevators. After knocking and receiving permission to enter, I looked around the spacious room. This was the first time I was in Elizabeth's office; whenever we talked it was always her visiting as I never really thought about going to her office. Of course, the fact that she was almost never in that room also played a big role.

It was a big room colored in calm shades of green and silver with several posters depicting various MBI related things. The poster beside me was titled: 'MBI PR personnel list'. Surprisingly, Elizabeth's name was at the top of the list with the title 'Supreme Ruler' beside it…what?

The copper haired woman in question sat to the side of us with dozens of holographic monitors floating before her, each one with a face of some person. Elizabeth looked very busy as she fired off order after order to the various people with new windows popping up to replace closed ones practically instantly.

"Elizabeth." Kara called out, not caring about the woman's busyness in the slightest. Surprisingly, the woman finished her last order and then simply closed all windows to face us. After surveying us for a few moments she nodded to herself and stood up.

"You are here, excellent." Elizabeth circled around her desk to come closer, her eyes darting between the 2 of us as we stood there, waiting. "Yes this will work quite nicely."

"What will work?" I asked, looking at the unhealthy gleam in her eyes warily. Looks like Akitsu wasn't the only one who had no sleep last night…"

Elizabeth hummed as she returned to her desk, placed her elbows on it and folded her hands in a house shape before her face, giving her a cunning mastermind look.

"One of my jobs here is the head of MBI Public Relations." Elizabeth started crisply. "A hard and difficult task it is, keeping the public image of MBI in the gray if not white…especially with the latest developments."

Elizabeth leaned back and waved her hands around without an obvious pattern. Holographic windows began to pop up, facing us as she spoke up.

"The Shinto Teito containment…battles in the streets…" More and more images and videos popped up. "Deaths, injuries, destruction…danger everywhere as Sekirei fight without care for the people caught in their fight. And finally, the mass scale destruction, devastation and death of yesterday."

Elizabeth leaned back and sighed, the videos and images all shutting down.

"The people of Shinto Teito are panicking." She continued calmly. "They are afraid of living here, in the city turned into a warzone."

"That's all nice and all," Kara interrupted with a bored expression. "But where do we come in this? Why should we care?"

In response, about a dozen new windows opened. Videos of us stopping fights, resuing civilians, saving people. And in the center was a massive article image of all 5 of us standing tall and proud in our gray haoris under the title: 'Arbiters, salvation of Shinto Teito'.

"I still don't get it." I frowned. Did she want us to do something as Arbiters or something? Elizabeth sighed and dismissed all of the windows.

"I want you to be there with me when I go to a press conference in the evening today." She finally laid it out, crystal clear.

"…" Kara and I both stared at her in bewilderment and then chorused.

"What!?"


	50. Gate:Press

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

First of 2015, lets hope that this year will be as productive for me as the last...

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><p>"I can't believe I am doing this." Kara said in a shell shocked voice as we rode with a dressed up Elizabeth.<p>

"Look at the bright side of things," Elizabeth replied melancholically as she leaned back in her black business woman suit, her eyes closed. "You at least get to pull a sword on them if they start pushing. I wish I could pull my gun out on so many interviews and conferences that I have long lost count."

"Must we go to this press conference?" I attempted another go at trying to evade going to this blighted thing that Elizabeth strong armed us into. "Like, go on a mission or something."

"I wish I could go on a mission again instead of this shit." Elizabeth said dreamily, still half lying with her eyes closed. "A good 'exterminate everything' type mission would be excellent."

"…Is it going to be that bad?" I said nervously, my gloved hands stroking the hilts of my swords gently.

"For you? Probably not. For me?" Elizabeth groaned. "Fuck yes. Those journalists and press bastards are going to talk me to death with their questions and attempts to try and make me admit that the blame lies with MBI."

"Well, it does, right?" I smirked nervously. "So we'll be lying to them?"

"Of course." Elizabeth groaned as the car began to slow down. "Fuck... Well, here it goes. Do remember to not kill anyone or horribly main them unless they are really asking for it. Minaka may have given you the go ahead to do anything but if I'll be forced to attend another press conference discussing why the previous conference turned into a bloodbath, I'll shoot you."

"Yea, yea." Kara waved aside Elizabeth's words and instead grabbed her nodachi as the car came to a stop before a fairly big, wide but short building with a huge mob around it. From what I could see behind the polarized glass, was that the mob was made up of a huge amount of press journalists and cameramen.

"Well, gods bless." Elizabeth prayed and then motioned for Kara to open the door. As Kara got out, the mob withdrew slightly in surprise upon catching sight of just who was in the car. The haori we wore was very well known in Shinto Teito after all. So seeing Kara's imposing figure with a haori draped over her calm form raised quite a few eyebrows. Even more were raised when I climbed out of the car. I have recently stopped closing the haori to hide my armour and instead began to wear it like Kara, half opened and just hanging at my shoulders. There was no point in hiding it anymore, not after the shit that's happening left, right and center in the Third Phase.

"Arbiters?" Someone finally called out in surprise from the crowd, breaking the silence. The fact that Elizabeth got out from the car, that practically instantly drove off and left us alone, also woke them up from their stupor. What followed was rather…odd. Most of the crowd hanged at a respectable distance with fear, caution and respect on their faces as they eyed me and Kara warily while trying to shout questions to Elizabeth, microphones held out in outstretched hands. About a dozen or so journalists, young men and women in tasteful clothes swarmed us, trying to get to Elizabeth while shouting questions and their microphones everywhere.

"Miss Greene what does MBI have-!"

"…Greene, why does MBI-?"

"…MBI is going to do about-?"

"…the people of Shinto Teito deserve-!"

"Enough." Kara said forcefully, her evil aura causing the same reaction as a cannonball thrown into water. The same men and women who were practically walking all over us just a moment ago tripped over themselves in haste to get away from the corrosive maleficence that wreathed Kara like a shroud. She didn't quite go far enough to bring out the specter of her Norito but even the little she did was enough to give us breathing room. Even the ones with more brains who stood slightly further backed away upon her word.

"Thank you, Karasuba." Elizabeth nodded gratefully to the woman who dismissed her aura and then turned to the crowd of those who still hanged around, ignoring those who crawled or fled with haste, their minds still under the sudden effect of Kara's aura. "There will be a question and answer session after the conference where you can ask all of your questions, provided they weren't answered during the conference. Thank you all for understanding."

I could see that only few were satisfied with her answer, but one glance at Kara's bored face dissolved any resolve they had in trying to push for their questions. I walked around a petrified man, still holding his microphone in an outstretched hand and his mouth open but his widely opened pupils showed that he was far from here at this moment, as I followed the duo ahead into the building. There were a couple journalists who, instead of fleeing, simply froze at Kara's aura, their eyes wide and unseeing.

Hmm, from what I know, humans tend to split into 2 categories when dealing with sudden fears. Fight or flight, if I am correct, is the expression. I guess the ones frozen belong to the 'fight' category but are currently in a cognitive dissonance as different instincts conflict. On one hand, they should fight the danger that is Kara. On the other, their self-preservation instinct is most likely comparing their chances to that of a snowball's in the middle of a nuclear explosion. Meh, who cares? So what if Kara can send people into stupor or uncontrollable retreat by blasting her aura suddenly when close? If she's that close, chances are, unless she wants you to get away, you are going to die. It's like a fact of life.

"Ladies, this way." I returned from my musings to find some typical Japanese man in a very nice suit motion to follow him. Glancing about, I noticed that we were in some fancy hall with a fabulous red carpet and exquisitely decorated walls. I even slowed my steps somewhat, as I looked around in awe. This was a first time I saw something as decorative as this hall that slowly transformed into a half-circle room filled with comfortable chairs that faced the podium to which we were heading.

Although the room was large it was packed with people. Dozens if not hundreds sat in the chairs, notebooks, tablets and other writing and note taking gear with them as hundreds of eyes watched us. All throughout the sides, about 10 or so camera crews stood in all sorts of positions, ready to capture and relay us on screen. All of that turned our way the moment we walked and the din that filled the room slowly quieted down as we made our way to the podium.

The man guiding us to the podium gestured to the table behind which Elizabeth was to stand as she gave her presentation and then stepped away, getting off the podium. While there was a chair upon which Elizabeth would later sit during the question and answer section, there was nothing of sorts for us. I raised an eyebrow at this as I turned to Kara who merely rolled her eyes in annoyance. I guess we'll just stand then, not that it's hard for us.

"Welcome, honored guests." Elizabeth decided not to waste time and started practically the moment she reached the table and its integrated microphone. "To the Shinto Teito MBI Conference. After a brief speech I shall give on behalf of MBI's president Minaka Hiroto, we will begin the Question and Answer portion."

As Elizabeth began to read a speech from Minaka I tuned it out and instead began to look around casually. There were all types of people sitting before us. Some paid utmost attention to Elizabeth and her speech. Some looked around, bored. Other watched me and Kara as we stood boredom clear on our faces, beside Elizabeth. Judging by the respect seasoned with a dash of wariness, a hint of fear and a great deal of interest, this last group knew who Kara and I were.

Mildly interested, I looked back at that group, some of them averting eyes on contact but quite a few stood their ground and stared back. Those who failed to quail under my bored, casual glance were mostly middle aged or elderly people who seemed either sure of themselves or, like in the case of several journalists with hardened eyes, had faced intimidating and scary stuff before. Granted, I couldn't pull out an aura or apparition that would send all nearby into uncontrollable retreat with characteristic stains on their pants like Kara but I had an intimidating presence

From my experience, few could stand before my gigantic red and gold armour clad form and stare into my pale blue eyes like a good portion of this group did. And the odd thing was that they perfectly understood that the moment I so much as thought about it, they were dead. Yet, there was little fear in their eyes and postures. Respect, interest, wariness and even lust in a couple cases but very little fear.

In fact, although there was definitely a lot more fear, some of those who caught my eye treated Kara practically the same. They certainly aren't common journalists even if a few of them had tablets out and were taking notes. They are just dressed far too nicely to be mere agents of the press. Owners of said press maybe, but why would those be here when their disposable pawns, meaning common journalists, could be sent in?

Mmm, perhaps they didn't expect our presence? There was quite a bit of general surprise throughout the room as Elizabeth walked in with 2 Arbiters escorting her after all. Now that I think about it, there is a good portion of those present that only looked at me and Kara with confusion, not recognising us. Rather strange, considering the fact that the Arbiters – specifically the gray haori we wear – were rather famous in the city. Perhaps they are from outside of Shinto Teito? In fact, some of them weren't even of Asian race but were clearly foreign news agents. But the White Clown locked down the city, what would outsiders be doing here… I thought that Minaka had an agreement with the rest of the world not to reveal the existence of Sekirei to the world public…

Except Elizabeth never said anything like that and it's merely my assumption which have been proved wrong before… Although it's only me and Kara, the Arbiters who are broadcast across the city right now, it's still dangerous. What if someone sneaks a recording across the border?

I have little doubt that widespread panic would erupt across the world if the existence of Sekirei became common knowledge. Of course, this would be merely an appetizer compared to the reaction that would occur should the general public learn of the Disciplinary Squad and what we did.

"Now that the introductions are over," Elizabeth grimaced faintly as she put away the papers she read Minaka's speech from and looked out into the crowded room with resignation. "It's now question and answer time."

"The opening question will be asked by the Akatsuki Press." The same man that guided us to the podium stood up briefly and spoke into a microphone he carried.

"Thank you." An Asian woman in a black coat with red clouds inscribed on it stood up and turned to face Elizabeth. "Good evening Miss Greene. I am Konan from the Akatsuki Press and I believe that many of us here wonder about the same question: Just what happened yesterday at approximately 11 o'clock that left a good portion of downtown and about half of West Sector in flames? MBI soldiers and evacuation teams cordoned off everything, no one knows anything and we believe the people have the right to know. Thank you."

"Before I can continue the session," Elizabeth nodded to the polite woman and then gestured at me and Kara. "Let me introduce Arbiter Captain Karasuba and her lieutenant, Arbiter Rei. As they both were at ground zero at the time of the incident, they can explain what happened."

As the room erupted into surprised mutter of voices, I glanced at Kara who shook her head slightly and went back to looking about, bored. Well, the chances of her changing her mind on something like this were practically zero but I just had to try. Regardless, I might as well get started. As I walked to take Elizabeth's place, I glared at the older woman, promising horrifying fate should she cheat out of our bargain. When the woman in question merely rolled her eyes with a small huff, I relaxed and climbed up to stand on the podium.

"Good evening." I greeted the people before me with an easy going tone. I may have promised Elizabeth to explain what happened without revealing much but I couldn't care less if they believed me or not. I had other things to worry about like the fact that the dangerous game I am in suddenly gained a time limit. Compared to something monumental like that, a few disgruntled humans were far below my notice.

"As the questioner kindly brought to our attention, a good part of the city turned to rubble overnight." I won't lie, I tried hard to come up with something like a speech but all I got in the end were only several guidelines to bullshit my way with as I improvised on the spot. "The answer to why that is so, is simple."

I leaned forward, the wooden table creaking slightly under my armoured form.

"As we all know, success breeds envy. Envy, boiled long enough, breeds hate. Uncontrolled hate brings violence." I said philosophically as all of the faces in the room stared at me intently. "You might not have noticed, but MBI is very successful. I would've given the planners of this a round of applause for the genius plan but I find it rather distasteful by how many innocent civilian lives were extinguished by it."

By this point furious scribbling and tapping filled the room as the journalists began to write down notes. While Kara simply stood, that faint ever present grin on her face, Elizabeth nearly choked when I began to weave a net of lies. That being said, she recovered a split second later and instead began to show off a slightly bored façade as if the stuff I was making up on the spot was something she already knew.

"Although MBI uncovered their plot, evacuated everyone from the Chuuou Junction and sent the Arbiters in, it was too late." I lamented, thinking hard. "It was a simple yet effective plan, get into the heart of MBI territory and set off a bomb to show the incompetence of MBI. I doubt they expected the Arbiters to go in and actually capture a few of the more senior engineers and find out about who's behind the mess."

"So, long story short," I decided to wrap this up. "Jealous rivals sent in terrorists with a bomb. We couldn't deactivate it on time but we now know who did it so we can respond…appropriately."

I smiled viciously as I finished and quite a few people gulped or turned white.

"Does this answer your question?" I turned to the woman who strangely was not intimidated at all.

"That particular one yes," She stood up and stared at me defiantly with her blue eyes, so uncharacteristic of Asians. She also had dark blue hair but this I bet was simply dyed as I couldnt sense her as a Sekirei. "But what is stopping more of these 'terrorists' from sneaking in?"

"I'll answer that." Elizabeth gave me an exasperated look which I answered with a grin as she took her place at the table. "As you know, the MBI has a satellite grid with checkpoints manned by MBI security at each road in and out of the city. Everyone going in and out is checked. MBI, in order to avoid incidents, allowed religious vehicles and personnel to enter without a thorough search. Alas, we now must withdraw such privileges for the safety of our citizens. The reason is because the terrorists in question forged their documents and snuck parts of the bomb inside while posing as the clergy of various religions."

Now it was my turn to stare at Elizabeth in surprise alongside the rest of the room. My reason was different from the rest though. The woman talking before me took my lies in on the fly and adopted them into an official MBI standpoint with countermeasures and such already developed and even a scapegoat had been found.

I have heard that MBI relations with religion, particularly Catholics, were quite strained as MBI specialized in Genetics and other advanced medical sciences. This angered religious humans who claimed such practises were a heretical attempts to play god. Funny, as all Sekirei are practically demigods or can evolve to such states. I mean, look at Beni who can turn entire areas into fine sand or Haihane who can ignore some physics laws in her Norito or hell, even Uzume who changes from living to non-living and back again with ease. I am not even talking about those whose power is more abstract like Oshino, Toyotama or myself and those whose power is bordering Godhood even in our eyes like Kara and Miya.

Actually, now that I think about it, religion would have a very large problem with me, who walk between the Living and Spirit Realms like it's a common hallway. With Oshino, who seems to will anything she wants into existence – a scary power even by my standards. With Kusano, who can create life even on solid wastelands like Kamikura Island. And those are only some of the powers of the Sekirei I know. I have no doubt that there are other, even more unique and mind-boggling powers out there.

"I have a question." I broke from my musing to find that the forest of hands that was out there earlier has significantly decreased, showing that quite a few questions were answered while I was thinking. I looked at the man currently standing, a fairly young foreigner, a European judging by his features. Despite being a foreigner, his Japanese was quite passible as he continued.

"This Arbiter Rei person claimed that she and her group managed to grab several engineers that set up this bomb." He took a breath and glanced around as if seeing if those around him saw what he was trying to say. "But if they had the time to escape the blast radius, why didn't they instead defuse this bomb and save tens of thousands of lives?"

"Who said we escaped." Kara replied casually before Elizabeth or I had a chance to open our mouths. "The bomb blew up only a couple dozen meters or so in front of us."

"W-what?" The man tilted his head, baffled. "Impossible, that bomb destroyed most of the city and yet you claim to have survived it at point blank range?"

"I fail to see what's so impossible about surviving a Gravity Bomb." Kara shrugged nonchalantly even as the journalists hastily wrote down every word, their hands in a frenzy the moment they heard 'Gravity Bomb'. "Sure a few weaker Arbiters suffered injuries but I and Rei are beyond being overwhelmed by something like that."

"Th-that's a lie! That's just not possible!" The man continued. "You can lie all you want, it won't change the fact that you abandoned tens of thousands of innocent lives as you fled like the cowards you a-a-are…?"

The man's delirious speech spluttered and died as a maleficent and oppressing aura blanketed the room. Oh dear, calling Kara a coward is as safe as jumping on an ant hill covered in honey and chains. Unlike last time, only an hour or so ago, this time Kara actually brought out her apparition as she concentrated all of her ill will at the subject of her ire.

Hmm, it would seem I was wrong about paralysis being caused by conflicting instincts. It was caused by them receiving an extra dose of the pure evil Kara's intimidation ability leaked. Why else would the whole room just freeze suddenly, paralyzed, as they stared in fear at the semi-transparent gigantic humanoid crow that draped itself over Kara? The crow on the other hand, dripping with miasma of corruption and wickedness, stared back. I suppressed a shudder, I knew that for the apparition all living it surveys are nothing else but hunks of delicious meat that, for some odd reason, still moved.

"An insignificant, tiny worm such as yourself would no doubt run, your pants full of shit, at the prospect of facing such danger like this bomb." Kara sneered, her cold tone physically pushing the man into a small ball as he tried to escape Kara's sight. "We on the other hand are strong enough to survive such an event. Regardless, we were asked to protect this city by MBI and so we will do so without fleeing from danger."

The whole room took a deep breath as Kara dismissed her Apparition only for looks of disgust to cross many faces as they stared at their neighbours in surprised revulsion. Said neighbours turned various shades of red and fled the premises, the yellow and brown stains on their lower clothes signifying the reason for such hasty retreats. Leave it to Kara to make a good half of the people here shit themselves.

"D-Demon!" Another man rose, this one with a large golden crucifix hanging around his neck. He was pale but aside from that seemed to be one of the few who weathered Kara's aura fairly well. "MBI have demon spawn in their employ! Heretics, what have you done!"

"Oh spare me your jealousy, human." Kara rolled her eyes at the priest who was shocked to be addressed like so before his face reddened in anger.

"Jealousy!?"

"Yes, jealousy." Kara sighed, bored. "You are jealous of my power that I worked so hard to earn. Yet instead of trying to better yourself like I did, you simply try to kill the person you know is better than you. How pathetically envious you are, pitiful human who claims to follow god and yet you are merely a sinner who indulges in Envy."

The room quieted for a minute as we all tried to figure out the mindfuckery Kara just dumped on us in a casual, bored voice. Somehow, she made it seem that the religions around the world hunted demons because they were simply envious of their power. But that would mean that the clergy are actually worshippers of Envy, one of the Great Sins of Christianity. And Envy is a greater daemon, a Prime Evil so did she just claim that Christianity – amongst others – as a whole are a bunch of Demon Worshippers? Oww, my head…

"Karasuba…" Elizabeth moaned, her face covered by her hands. "I know you don't appreciate religion much but can you not troll the rest of us too?"

"Tch, it's boring here." Kara rolled her eyes once more. "Can't we leave already, most of the people here have left already."

"Khm, khm." The man in the suit who was our guide coughed into the microphone, attracting everyone's attention. "The MBI Press Conference is now closed. All guess please make your way to the exits and thank you for coming. My name is Keiji Komatsu and it's been a pleasure to be your host this fine evening."

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><p>"That went far better than planned." Elizabeth muttered as she sprawled over the seat of the limousine after taking off her high heels with palpable relief.<p>

"Eh?" I glanced at Kara who looked just as startled as I was, even if only those who knew all of her expressions well could tell. What kind of plans did Elizabeth make if Kara setting the religious world against MBI was better than what she expected?

"Don't look at me." Elizabeth somehow guessed what we were doing even with her eyes closed. "It was Minaka's idea to bring you 2. Not sure what he was expecting, but he wanted me to use you 2 to find a reason to restrict or ban all religious based traffic in and out of the city. Why, I don't know, but he wanted to use Kara's intolerance of religion to start a conflict."

"Why the hate anyway?" Elizabeth opened an eye lazily and looked at Kara as we rode on a highway, only street lamps providing light in the darkness around us.

"I don't hate religions." Kara shrugged. "I simply dislike anything that affects anyone's free will. Religion takes free will away and instead gives a bunch of dogmas that replace it. I dislike that."

I nodded as I fell over and ended up with my head just where I planned: Kara's lap. Kara did have an incredibly high independence streak and disliked anyone who gave up their free will. Kara was just odd that way. If I suddenly decide that the goal of my life is to go jump off a cliff, she'll merely raise an eyebrow in surprise and accept it. She'll certainly test to see if my decision is iron-solid first but she'll accept it. But if I go to jump off a cliff because someone told me to – and for some gods forsaken reason I listened – I am in for a world of pain as Kara would show me her displeasure.

Of course, this is all hypothetical as I would never do anything to leave Kara's side. I promised didn't I?

Forever and ever.


	51. Gate:Name

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>This city sure has changed, I thought as I casually strode down a street, ignoring the looks full of wonder and a hint of fear from passers-by. In a mere month, the people of Shinto Teito changed from fairly friendly, open citizens to guarded people who were always on a watch for oddly dressed or behaving strangers. Hell, had I not been wearing the haori associated with Arbiters, I am sure everyone I met, as I walked down this street in the North Sector, would've fled from my armoured form on sight.<p>

Can't blame these people though, I mused to myself as I watched a mother guide a pair of twins to a nearby playground, her eyes darting all over the place, ready to pick up her children and flee at a moment's notice. These people have been torn out of their safe, calm lives and thrust into a warzone where they can die in an instant. Thousands have died in fact and that only stressed the rest even more. And the worst thing was, they were completely powerless to do anything about this situation. The Sekirei fighting in this city tend to avoid hitting bystanders if they can but stray techniques, misaimed strikes or deflected projectiles tended to not care what or who they hit. People, innocent citizens of Shinto Teito, continued to die on a daily basis with their only fault being that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Still, it was interesting to see just how many humans were willing to stay and trust their lives to this roulette of fate. Sure, many fled for a better life elsewhere but for a city of 14 million, losing half a million isn't deadly. The streets were still full of wary pedestrians and the offices still conducted business as usual. What a strange race…

As I turned a corner and continued on, scaring the wits of some Sekirei who tried to seep through a wall while clutching her Ashikabi to her chest, I thought on this morning, just hours ago and just what I was doing here. I mean, sure I wanted to patrol the city while I had some downtime but there were other things I could and probably should be doing. Like training my Norito with the rest of my team for instance. I was still a little confused about it. Oh I definitely knew now what it did – hard not to after I tested it out that night with Kara watching – but how it worked? Well, I had a few theories but I'll need to use it again to see which one is correct. Perhaps I can use a mechanic or 2 from my Norito to create a new variation of Gate:Open. I did always look for new ways to use my only ability after all. Granted, not everything I come up with is usable or safe to actively use like Gate:Marble. But for each unusable and unsafe technique I at least gain experience in what works and what doesn't which helps creating a working and, most importantly, a safe technique for me to use.

Hmm, yes, I think I'll join the rest of my team tomorrow and bring a test subject for myself to use. They also need to see my Norito and know what it does. Who knows what the future will bring? Perhaps they'll have need of my Norito, weird as it is.

It was slightly odd to have a breakfast with just me and Kara. I've grown used to Haihane shamelessly discussing porn and other similar things with Uzume, not caring one bit about us hearing them clearly. To Chiho sitting there, listening to the perverted duo with a glowing face while occasionally speaking with Beni on things like clothes and make up, the similar bodies of the 2 letting them share and try each other's things. On a side note, Chiho looked so damn sexy in Beni's skin tight nanoweave suit that I had to resist the urge to strip her naked and have my way with her. Why, just thinking about her in that suit makes me…khmm.

Anyway, they are with Akitsu at Kamikura Island right now. Yesterday, Haihane spent as long as she could in her Norito while Uzume tried – quite unsuccessfully from what Akitsu told us – to hit Haihane with everything she had short of a Norito. Today, it will be Uzume's turn to practise her Norito while Haihane flees from the giant pissed off arachnid she drove mad yesterday. Although, considering Kara flew off to join them after breakfast today, perhaps it will be the 2 of them doing all they could to stay alive as Kara 'trained' them. Considering she didn't have a chance to have a real fight for a while now – training with me didn't count as I still didn't last long enough to let her really go at me for any extended period of time – I pity the duo who now have to contend with a frustrated Kara.

Meanwhile, upon hearing that I had stuff to do in the city, – I was hoping to meet Higa and see if we could come to an agreement – Takami sent me off to Izumo Inn to placate Minato's Sekirei who she kicked out to stop bothering her. Takehito also asked to tell Miya that he was fine. The fact that I and Minato's Sekirei were technically enemies and Miya had wanted to thoroughly punish me for years just didn't register as a valid excuse. Just what was a valid excuse for Takami anyway? Even death didn't seem to count for some reason…

* * *

><p>"Good morning…" The first to spot me was Homura who, for some odd reason, was lying on the roof shirtless, lazing in the rays of the sun.<p>

"Hey Homura." I greeted him with a smile, grabbing my chance at not seeing Miya for another little while. "How are you doing?"

"Eh, could've been worse." The older male said philosophically as he scratched his toned chest before rising himself up on his elbows to look at me. "Yukari found out that I went with you guys and showed me her disappointment. Sorry, I am afraid no more late night barbeques from now on for me."

"What a pity, to have such an unreasonable Ashikabi." I sighed, glancing with an amused expression at a disgruntled face of the aforementioned person who just happened to be eavesdropping on us out of a second story window.

"Hey! Stop corrupting my Homura!" Yukari shook her fist at me in mock anger as she showed herself. Yet, below her cheery façade a real wariness and fear lay. "He shouldn't kill people, regardless what they do! It's just wrong and there's a reason jails exist!"

"Jails are made for humans who commit crimes." I smirked with a hint of sadness. "Under what charges would crime against Sekirei go as? Animal Cruelty?"

"Erm…" Yukari frowned as she tried to find a counterargument. Homura and I waited patiently for her to come up with something but she only lowered her head and quieted down before looking away.

"We, the Disciplinary Squad," I told her gently. "Are called Arbiters for a reason. We are the Judges and Executioners rolled into one who defend the interests of Sekirei. Homura knows what it's like to be out there, defending our kin who are thrown out, blind to the cruel reality of this world."

"Homura…" Yukari asked hesitantly, almost fearing her Sekirei's next words.

"She speaks the truth, Yukari." Homura said heavily as he sat up completely. "In the eyes of the law and the government, we Sekirei are nothing but potential lab rats."

"N-no way…" The girl shivered, looking lost as she looked at her Sekirei. Homura sighed and swung acrobatically into her window, bringing his Ashikabi to his naked chest. He then whispered something into her ear that brought a faint smile and a blush to Yukari's face.

"I think that's enough for now." We all turned to see Miya, smiling serenely as she looked at me. Only the fact that she had that dastardly ladle in her hands ruined the image of a harmless housewife that Miya tried to emulate. "Come in now, stray, there are people waiting."

I sighed as I followed her into the Inn, the sound of my greaves hitting the wooden floor causing the lady of the house to frown. Surprisingly, she said nothing about it for once even though her aura of disapproval hanged heavily about me.

Damn, I am getting envious by all of these people who can just show you their disapproval – amongst other things – just by exerting their will on the reality around them. Granted, Miya is a Pillar, Kara earned it through hard work and the fact that she can rival Miya while Akitsu can do it because she's a genius. Still, it makes me think if it's possible for me to do the same somehow. So far, all of my attempts failed, I even tried to get Kara to tutor me. I haven't gotten any closer to it then I was before which caused me to shelf it for the moment with a heavy heart.

"Lady Rei?" I waved back at Musubi who looked like she just came out of the bath, her hair still wet. "How's Minato!?"

"Well, can you gather everyone so I won't have to repeat myself?" I smiled as she dashed off before dropping the facial expression and turning to Miya who looked at me, waiting. "Takehito is fine, if anything, he acts like the voice of reason to Takami, making sure they both eat, sleep and have a bit of rest."

"How much longer will he be in that place?" Miya asked calmly, a bit of tenseness bleeding out of her figure.

"He said it's hard to say for certain," I recited. "But he's expecting to be there for 2 or 3 more days."

"I see." Miya bowed her head in acceptance, her long lavender hair covering her face briefly before we both looked up to see Matsu, Yashima, Kazehana, Musubi, Kusano and Tsukiumi stampede down the stairs with Yukari and Shiina closely behind. A little bit later, Homura walked down in a calm, dignified manner as he finished buttoning up his dress shirt, ignoring the looks the rest of the crowd gave him.

"Well, we are all here now." Tsukiumi asked impatiently the moment Homura sat down. "Tell us what is going on with our husband already!"

I took a moment to look at them instead, interested to see how well they recovered after the fight 2 days ago. Tsukiumi was in yet another blue dress although this one much simpler then the black and blue masterpiece she generally wears to combat. From what I could see, her bruises were gone already and she was once more in her peak condition. Yashima, who lounged about calmly, was wearing a simple long sleeved white shirt and loose gray pants. She also had no injuries I could see but then again, she did have armour last time I saw her. Finally, there was Musubi who seemed to wear her adjusted Shrine Maiden outfit even at home. Although I couldn't her body well, I could see rows of bandages on her left thigh and right shoulder where she was clipped by Uzume's spears that one time she tried to run up the spider's body.

"He is fine." I spoke up finally, interrupting another angry outcry from Tsukiumi before she could do more than open her mouth. "He is healed up already but Takami and Takehito wish to keep him for observation for a couple more days just to be sure."

"It's not every day you see an Ashikabi absorb a Jinki." I frowned as I saw Matsu twitch at this but decided to merely keep an eye on her as I continued. "So it's better to be safe than sorry or so Takehito said."

Matsu definitely knew something more, I thought as I watched said Sekirei out of the corner of my eye. I am not sure what exactly, but I am guessing it has to do with the Jinki's unnatural reaction to Minato. Takami did mention that this was completely unpredictable and bizarre event so the fact that Matsu knows something more will certainly be interesting to her. Still, I'd rather not antagonise the 2nd right now to try and get more information so I'll do nothing.

"Did brother have a message or anything for us?" Yukari called out from the happy din of voices as Kazehana riled up Tsukiumi and Homura for a drinking contest for 'Minato's get well party' while Musubi and Kusano danced in glee that their Ashikabi was fine. Yashima in the meanwhile was talking to Miya in low tones about something.

"I am sorry, but I am here only to relay Takami's words." I smiled apologetically and stood up. "In fact, considering I came here only for a momentary visit, it's time for me to go. Have fun you all."

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><p>I once more admit that Kazehana is dangerously annoying. The wind Sekirei almost convinced me to stay and drink with them somehow! Thank gods – one and only time – that Miya kicked me out of the house and handed off jobs like shopping for Musubi and Yashima to everyone else. If she hadn't, I bet I would've woken up tomorrow in a random location and, knowing my luck, most likely with yet another woman in my bed. Or their bed, but whatever. I know for a fact that Kazehana is by far not against having some fun with a girl or several as Uzume admitted that it was her who 'corrupted' her during one wild night after she helped Matsu escape. Granted, with a body like that, Kazehana is the prime corrupter of all straight women out there. She's also the prime target of all jealous women but that's getting off topic.<p>

Somehow, by the time I reached Hiyamakai Hospital where Higa lives, it was evening and the sun was already setting. First, I had to break a couple fights on my way there as the idiotic Sekirei chose to do combat in the middle of crowded streets. I swear, the amount of brain matter in these fools is so little that it's a miracle that it's enough for them to even form basic thoughts. I mean, who the hells attacks an Arbiter nowadays? Did they somehow miss the memo that the gray haori equates to stop what you're doing and run?

I actually fell into stupor when they attacked me. I mean, the amount of times I was attacked as an Arbiter on a patrol could be counted on the fingers of 1 hand. Not counting Homura, Tsukiumi and the lightning twins of course. Regardless, after distributing a severe beat down to the morons - and their Ashikabi for a good measure that they didn't stop them – I had to drag them all into the nearest hospital. And gods damn it if anyone on the street helped me. No, they just all ran away and forced me to drag the injured idiots to the nearest hospital.

After I tossed them into the reception of the hospital and scared the living daylights out of the nurse on watch, I got called by number 109, Dai. Our adorable little sister apparently had her three helpers that Elizabeth awoke Initiated the moment they finished their adjustments. After chiding her gently on rushing things and telling her to send the trio congratulations from me, I asked why she called.

Apparently, Dai called me last after Chiho and Kara to ask me for a name for number 110. She already asked Kara for a name for 111 and Chiho for 112 but decided against bothering me earlier as I was at Miya's house. Interested, I asked about 111 and 112, what their names and abilities were.

Number 111, who Kara named Tamotsu was apparently an elemental type with metal subtype and could control all metal regardless of their form or state so long as she touched it.

"…For one, I am pretty sure Tamotsu is a male name," I frowned at this. "Weren't all the Sekirei we found in the lab female?"

"They were." Dai's holographic image sniggered at my expression before continuing. "But, I am going to quote Karasuba here, 'I don't care, it fits.'. So now number 111 has to live with that name for the rest of her life."

"Of course." I rolled my eyes. I should've expected Kara to use the first name that popped into her head and she thought was fitting regardless of whether it was male or female. "Hey, what's this type thing you mentioned? It's familiar but it's like something I heard with the tip of my ear once before and thought was unimportant."

"It's a system Takami and Takehito created to categorize all Sekirei powers." Dai explained. "There's 3 types: Elemental, Enhancement and Irregular. Elemental is when the Sekirei can use an element or a power outside of their body, Enhancement is inside the body and Irregular is everything else. Then there's subtypes which explain the Sekirei's power further. For instance, Benitsubasa is irregular type with shock subtype, Haihane is enhancement type with wind subtype, Uzume is elemental type with silk subtype and you are irregular type with gate subtype."

"Huh, interesting." I mused, this was an interesting way to categorize Sekirei powers. "What about Kara?"

"Well, she's a bit weird." Dai scratched her nose. "She's enhancement type with pure subtype. Or you can say she's an enhancement type with enhancement subtype. So enhancement squared."

"…?" I twisted an eyebrow in confusion at Dai's frustrated mumbling as she tried to find a way to explain to me what the hell she just said.

"Look," She finally rolled her eyes and said. "It's like this. We have a human who is a one. Then we have an enhancement Sekirei who is a 2. So, in this example, the Sekirei would always be twice as strong as a human. Then we have Karasuba who is an enhancement squared Sekirei so she's a 4. That means she'll be always twice as strong as a regular enhancement Sekirei."

"Ah…" I nodded in understanding. So Kara is stronger than everyone else simply because she has an extra enhancement type?"

"…Sure." Dai sighed. "Anyway, number 112 who Chiho named Hoshiko, is a fire enhancement Sekirei so nothing particularly new or exciting here. Just a regular frontline fighter if it wasn't for her ability to melt or light on fire anything she touches. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a pyromaniac with a fascination with fire. Regular fire does nothing to her if she runs her power through her body so she keeps playing around with it! She burned half of an entire level to the ground once just for laughs!"

"You, stop laughing!" Dai pouted at me as I openly laughed at her frustrated form. She was just so cute when she did things like this. "Grrr, stop it already so I can tell you about 110!"

"Yea, sure." I stopped laughing but my great grin didn't go anywhere. Ah, this was just what I needed after a stressful day filled with morons trying to ruin it.

"Whatever," Our adorable little sister huffed before continuing. "So number 110 is irregular type, spirit subtype."

"E-eh?" My eyes widened as I stared into Dai's victorious grin as she laughed haughtily at my stupefied face. This number 110's type sounded practically just like mine, I mean, sure I got designated as 'gate' subtype but considering it's to the spirit realm and back I go to, I could've just as easily gotten 'spirit' as my subtype if what Dai said about this system was true.

"Right, so, number 110." Dai snapped her fingers to bring me back. "At first I thought I screwed up on her initiation because she could use her power at all until she did something by accident that literally made my jaw drop. You know, if I was still an AI, I bet I would've gotten a logical error just by this event happening."

"Anyhow," She continued now that she had my full attention. "Number 110 carried around a small doll that Elizabeth and Chiho made for her. When she tried to use her power and she couldn't, she despaired and caused a sporadic outburst by nearly overloading her Tama. Regardless of the details, some of the power that lashed out from her Tama went into that doll and possessed it. Now, she has a construct that follows her around and shows limited sentience and she speak with it mentally."

"That's actually pretty interesting." I hummed. "How good is this doll? What did you mean by limited sentience?"

"Well, it's a doll made out of cloth and foam so of course it's terrible." Dai sighed at me. "As for limited sentience, the doll can interpret her orders and follow them without her having to spell out every single step. It's still as dumb as a brick otherwise though. This being said, she is beginning to construct an actual battle golem with the aid of Tamotsu."

"Fascinating." I rubbed my chin in thought. An actual puppet master! In fact, this reminded me of that one character from an anime Haihane watched that interested me. A blond girl who could command dozens of small dolls to rip her enemies apart and protect herself. "I think her name should be number 110, Alice."

"Alice?" Dai looked at me in surprise. "Really? A western name? Not going to go for the Japanese names like Karasuba and Chiho did?"

"Well, these Sekirei were born in America so it would make sense for their names to be western." I parried her questions. "That and it's a reference to a puppet master I once saw and liked."

"Right." Dai nodded slowly before frowning and turning sideways. "Uh…look, sorry but I need to cut this short, Hoshiko started a fire again. Talk to you later!"

After Dai hanged up due to a distraction on her end, the distractions on my end didn't end much to my dismay. Thankfully, I only had to disrupt a couple more fights before I reached Higa's hospital. I found myself nearly overjoyed at the fact that, unlike the previous morons, these guys knew who I were and the sight of my haori alone was enough to send them scrambling away. At long last, I reached the big white building surrounded by a fenced park. Judging by the way this day has been going on so far, I had…concerns on how well my meeting with Higa would go. But, I needed to at least try this and if anything, I did have several aces up my sleeves I could dish out to tip the scales in my favour.

Information was a very well sought after merchandise after all.


	52. Gate:Deal

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>As I walked onto the Hospital grounds, I was attracted by a faint whistling noise a little off to the side. If I am not mistaken, it came from a building that was the car parkade. Interested, I made my way inside; the locked door not a problem for me in my Soul Form, to find a rather interesting sight. Apparently this particular level – or maybe even the whole building – was changed into a training ground of sorts with mannequins, targets and other various equipment all over the place.<p>

In the center of this magnificent mess, stood Oriha in what seemed like a copy of her heavily embroiled dress that she wore to the 3rd round a couple days ago. Considering the previous one was torn to practically shreds during the fight, it's easy to state that this is in fact a copy, provided it's the same dress. Regardless, moving on from her dress I surveyed what I could to find that she was now completely recovered and was now…tinkering with her disks?

I didn't know her disks were so complex, I mean from what I've seen I thought they were just solid disks of sharp metal that she controlled with her will. Apparently, that was not the case as there was a disk floating before her in a disassembled state. I came a little closer quietly, studying the disks as Oriha bit her nails, thinking hard on something. From close up the disk looked like it was made up of 2 metal half spheres that were the chassis, 3 sharp curved blades that locked inside to form the cutting edges and at the center sat a small pale purple crystal of some kind.

Suddenly, the crystal glowed with faint purple light and the whole thing came together in a split second to form the seemingly seamless disks that I saw her use 2 days prior. Another second later, the disk rapidly wound up its rotating speed and began to hum; emitting the sound that drew me here. Oriha then had it rotate horizontally as well, the incredible speed of the rotation making it look like a semi-solid sphere even to my eyes. Oriha began breathing heavily as she kept increasing the rotation speed in both ways until the sphere solidified and emitted the distinct boom of the sound barrier being broken.

I felt my eyes widen at this event, that disk was now something that even I would not be able to block. Not without cutting it with Gate:Open anyway. Suddenly, a strange ticking noise began to emanate from the disk turned sphere. Oriha frowned and instantly the disk began to slow down. In about 15 seconds or so, it came to a complete stop and wrenched itself apart with the sound of tortured metal.

It would seem that moving at such speeds did have its adverse effects, as the chassis glowed red and appeared warped while the blades looked like they were dipped into a strong acid for a while. Only the crystal was perfectly fine. Oriha huffed in frustration and then did something that caused my jaw to drop.

The crystal began to pulse in bursts of violet light every couple seconds and with each pulse fascinating things happened. The first pulse turned both the chassis and the blades into dust. The second pulse recreated the chassis and the blades from said dust looking brand new and as solid as ever. The final pulse reassembled the parts into a new disk that fell into Oriha's hand as she looked at it sceptically.

I was about to step forward and declare myself when suddenly Oriha dropped the disk and instead outstretched her hands like she was trying to cup water. A faint purple glow veined down her arms from her Tama and condensed inside her hands to form another crystal, this one a bit larger and shaped like a monolithic star unlike the previous square crystal. This act seemed to take a lot out of Oriha as she was practically on her knees from exhaustion by the time she finished. She let her hands fall to her knees to support herself up as the crystal floated away from her slightly. Practically instantly after, pieces of the floor and surrounding debris as well as dust flew towards the crystal like it was a miniature black hole. In seconds a massive gear levitated before Oriha who looked at it a tired but triumphant grin.

Hmm, judging by what I just saw, the girl just tried to replicate the gears created by her Norito and even succeeded somewhat. She may have gotten drop-dead tired from creating a single gear unlike the 9 her Norito forms in seconds, but considering the gear is permanent until destroyed or dismissed… If she brings a dozen or so of these monstrosities to a fight instead of her usual small disks, she'll be much more difficult to fight. I mean, unless she's trying to fight someone of Kara's level, I doubt her enemies will be able to block or parry those giant things accelerated to the speed of a bullet. Considering they would also deal massive environmental damage on impact, she doesn't even have to aim directly at her enemies, just hitting the general area would be enough.

Well, this fascinating and very informative show aside, I should probably ask her where Higa is, if he's in the hospital at all.

"I see you have evolved your power, well done." I openly walked in and found myself facing the giant gear that was rapidly gaining rotational speed, its conjurer right behind it as she stared at me in surprise. "Peace, I am not here to harm anyone, only to talk."

"You…" Oriha looked sorely tempted to try and send her gear at me but after a glance at her own hands which still shook from exhaustion, she decided against the useless gesture and even stopped her gear. She still kept it in front of her just in case though.

"What do you want?" The smaller girl finally asked as she sat on the smaller disk she dropped earlier as it rose and positioned itself under it's maker.

"My, what hostility, it's not like I did anything to you." I smirked as I walked through her gear and sat in mid-air before the surprised Sekirei. "I have come to offer a trade to your Ashikabi that will be very profitable for everyone involved. Is he here?"

"A…trade?" Oriha asked in bewilderment, my proposal stunning her. "I…erm…well, he is here…wait, I need to call Toyotama."

"Very well." I smiled pleasantly as I got up and began to wander around the room, giving Oriha privacy as she pulled out a cell phone from...somewhere. I decided against dwelling on that feat even if she didn't have a purse or pockets on that dress of hers. Instead, I tried to levitate myself in the Spirit Realm. Considering the physics here were rather funky, I found that with enough will, the physics of the Spirit Realm could be overwritten for a short period of time. Like me sitting on a non-existent chair for instance. Sure it existed in the Living Realm, but it also just as surely didn't exist in the Spirit one. So I forced my will on the world, solidifying the space under my butt into a 'something' I could sit on. Same principle applied with levitation, I merely willed a 'something' I can step on to appear which makes it seem like I am actually walking on air. But by the gods! This exercise is damn tiring.

"Reaper?" I was distracted from my exercise by Toyotama who walked in to find me floating in mid-air only to fall heavily the moment my concentration broke. "Oh my, I am afraid this training ground is reserved to Higa's Sekirei only and if you wish to train here you must pay rent."

"It's a good offer but I am afraid I'll pass; the MBI training grounds are free." I smiled back at the green headed woman. "Is Higa ready now?"

"Yes, Higa is ready to see you." Toyotama nodded and turned to walk away. I waved goodbye to a confused Oriha before we left though, messing with the girl in the dress a bit.

As we walked through the Hospital, I noticed how we saw no more Sekirei aside from Oriha on the grounds and none at all inside. When I commented on it, my companion merely smiled and said that the rest were currently busy training so that next round they'll be chosen by Higa to attend. She smirked as she said they were rather jealous of Kujou who spent most of the fight in Higa's careful care and Oriha who got a kiss from him. Before I could talk more about this, we arrived to Higa's office and Toyotama opened the door immediately without bothering to knock or announce herself. Although I was surprised by this, I followed her in nonetheless.

The office didn't change since I was last here. Same big wood table with an equally big touchpad carved into it behind which the master of the house sat in a nice leather office chair with a window offering a great view of the hospital grounds behind him. Heh, once more, it shows a nightly visage. I think the view is much better during the night as it looks out onto the park sporadically enlightened by an occasional lamp. Gives it an enchanted touch. As I surveyed the location, Toyotama closed the door and leaned against it, intending to stay. I didn't particularly mind the green head so I chose not to comment on the situation.

Instead, I sat down on the chair so conveniently placed before Higa, my sub consciousness using the object as an anchor to concentrate on, preventing me from falling through it. For a couple minutes we just stared at each other, studying one another. I first glanced at his general form to find that the man was suffering from exhaustion. I could see it in the slight slump of his shoulders, the bags under his eyes, the tired eyes themselves.

It was strange, compared to the Higa I saw at the beginning of this mess, he certainly looked a lot more weathered and seasoned. Yet, unlike the Higa from before, the man before me seemed…reliable. A sense of reliability and power radiated from this man, something I certainly wouldn't say a month ago. Whereas a month ago he was a sly, cunning young man who carried himself like the world was a chessboard and he was a player… This man before me could likened to a seasoned soldier who saw shit, did shit and was prepared to get his hands even more dirty for whatever he valued. What an amazing change this one young man underwent over a single month. Granted, within this month he had to deal with an insane amount of stress not to mention having to survive the death of his Sekirei… Still, I was…impressed.

"You wished to arrange a deal with me?" Higa finally asked, cutting straight to the point as he leaned back slightly. "Or are you here to cash in your favour?"

"No, no." I smiled, amused, at him. "Of course I am not here to use up something as precious as a favour! Things like that are difficult to come by and are extremely valuable."

I chose not to mention that I made the decision not to call in said favour just now as I finished looking at him. If before I had thoughts about using it as an addition to my terms to force him to submit, now I believe it would be better to hold onto it. Things like these were…difficult to get especially if they actually mean something to the other party. Meanwhile, Higa smirked despite his tiredness, entertained by my act. It was now, more than ever, that I was sure that when the time comes, he will honor his word. If before I had doubts about his moral integrity, now I was oddly satisfied with it. I now knew that when the time came, he'd honor that favour he gave me.

"I come to negotiate a peace between our 2 factions until we are the only ones left." I was interested to see only mild acceptance in his expression rather than the surprise that I expected and that Toyotama showed. "This included any 3rd party involvement as well."

Now I saw respect in Higa's eyes and confusion in Toyotama's who clearly didn't understand what I was talking about. However, she kept quiet and simply listened on so I didn't mind.

"Peace like that would certainly be helpful and profitable to all." Higa leaned in and placed his elbows on the table. "But before I consider, I'd like to hear what you are bringing to the table in return for me calling off any and all current and future 3rd parties I or those under my command involve."

What a fast guy, I mused as I reclined in my 'chair'. He already has people after Chiho and it's only the 2nd day. Good thing she's far out of his reach right now.

"I can tell you the results of Akitsu's research into Sekirei's Noritos." I smirked as I saw a spark of interest appear in his eyes and watched him draw himself upright. "Their limitations for one, I think you'll find particularly useful. Especially the ones that, if ignored, will not only kill the Sekirei attempting it but also the Ashikabi that initiated it."

"What!?" Toyotama bounced off the door, staring at me in incredulous shock. "Our Noritos can harm Higa?"

"I accept these terms." Higa calmly spoke over Toyotama's outburst, his face becoming steel as he reigned in his emotions. "But I hope you don't mind if my analyst attends your lecture."

"Not at all." I gracefully nodded and watched as Higa called someone named Kakizaki and told him to show up as soon as possible with someone called Kochou. For the next 5 minutes, I looked around the office, Higa seemed to take a short nap in his chair while Toyotama leaned against a wall and tried to burrow a hole in me with her eyes, unsuccessfully of course. In fact, I abandoned surveying the office and instead focused on the greenhead, looking at her with interest. She seemed exactly like I remembered her from my previous visit but a few things seemed different.

For one, she seemed to passively absorb energy around her, causing her skin tone to appear darker than usual and the temperature around her several degrees lower than what it should be. It would appear that she evolved her energy vampirism to such a degree that she absorbs energy with her entire body now. As a matter of fact, I am willing to bet that she has effectively become immune to low powered attacks as she'd just absorb them the moment they came close and weaken anything she can't absorb. A true nightmare to elemental type Sekirei I'd imagine. Of course, someone of Akitsu's caliber could just overwhelm her vampirism in an instant but lower level enemies would stand absolutely no chance. That and the fact that she actively drains everything around her as we speak, makes me think that she's storing all of that energy somewhere. If given time and chance to use said energy in a fight...well, the results would certainly be interesting.

Before I could concentrate on what else seemed different about Toyotama, I got distracted by the door opening and revealing a serious young man dressed in a sharp black business suit and a woman with short gray hair and an equally gray dress. Judging by the extravagance of said dress that seemed to be a mix between a Chinese dress and a yukata with a wide, light purple belt under her ridiculously large breasts, it's safe to say she's a Sekirei. Now, that I think about it, on general, bodies like hers are a dead giveaway of our race. There are literally no human women that I've seen in my travels around the world with bodies like that. Well, not naturally anyway. Regardless, this woman's hourglass figure with such soft-looking gigantic breasts attached to it even made me feel envious for a moment… Until I realized that those same breasts would shoot her balance to hell if she tried to fight with a sword. So, how about I keep my body which is ideal to my way of fighting and instead look at bodies like this Kochou woman with lust instead of envy?

"…Please don't look at me like that." Kochou crossed her arms over her breasts and hid behind the man who looked like her Ashikabi.

"Yes, please don't look at my wife like that." The man looked at me with a frown as he embraced said wife and hid her from my sight.

"You've got to admit that a body like her's attracts attention." I smirked from my 'chair' at the uncomfortable Sekirei. "Congratulations on your marriage by the way, sister."

"Thank you..?" The gray haired woman nodded with slight confusion before looking at the man in whose arms she stood with love.

"Kakizaki, Kochou, sit down, we have much to discuss." Higa opened his eyes from the short nap and sighed tiredly as the aforementioned couple took the last 2 chairs in the room and focused on their tired boss.

"I have just accepted a deal offer from Rei here and she's about to fulfil her end of the bargain." Higa said, his voice as calm as ever.

"Rei?" Kochou stared at me in confusion, the dark red dot on her forehead looking oddly cute, before the confusion got swiftly replaced by realization and caution. "Number 51, Rei the Reaper, the Lieutenant Arbiter of the Disciplinary Squad? Are you sure it's wise to deal with such powers, my lord?"

"Disciplinary Squad?" Her Ashikabi's eyes became sharp and alert as he put his hand into the inner pocket of his suit, ready pull out whatever he had there.

"Calm down," Higa released another sigh. "If Rei truly wanted us dead, we'd all be dead. Regardless, you are here as analysts and listeners to what she has to say."

"Are you ready?" He turned to me and asked, clearly looking forward to getting through this and finishing this long day off.

"Of course." I grinned. "Where do you want me to start?"


	53. Gate:Sentiments

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: So I noticed an interesting thing: People keep visiting Gate:Nightmare and Gate:Press (as in more than usual) for some reason. I'd like to hear this reason via your comments please. Do you keep coming because it's something I did there that was good?

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><p>All in all, the whole event went well, I thought as I walked slowly down the darkened streets of Shinto Teito. I got to see something interesting as well as find out that Higa has a close friend who is an Ashikabi of a very smart Sekirei. Kochou, regardless of what her type and subtype was, could compete with Matsu and Akitsu for the title of the smartest Sekirei or so I felt. That I've met so far anyway. She easily picked apart my attempt at a lecture which was basically me paraphrasing Akitsu's helicopter ride lecture. And then she proceeded to ask questions that baffled me. Things like: what determines the actual Norito? Is it predetermined since Initiation or can it be changed? Questions like that that I had no idea how to answer. In the end I just gave Kochou Akitsu's phone number and suggested she go talk to the MBI CRO herself.<p>

In the end, Higa admitted that my side of the bargain more than satisfied him and then proceeded to order Kakizaki to call off everyone he hired so far and to scrap that particular venture. Now I don't have to worry about Higa's assassins going after Chiho but I should probably warn Takami that Minato is still a legit target and they might try to get him through his sister, Yukari. On second thought, considering that this 'game' only has weeks left, they might not reach them in time. Regardless, I should still tell her of this possibility.

But that's all for later. Right now, I am going to enjoy the night scenery around me as I return to the MBI Tower after a long and productive day. The cool wind that whistled eerily through the completely empty streets added a surreal effect to the once busy place that was now a ghost town. The residents of this misfortunate city have learned to stay inside and barricade their doors after sunset as that is when most of the Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs come out to prowl the night and hunt for each other. It was fascinating, really, just how dead Shinto Teito became after sunset nowadays. Even the ever glowing billboards and advertisements seemed hollow and only increased the sense that the multi-million megapolis was actually a ghost city. Oh sure the windows shone and I could occasionally see faint figures cross out the light as they walked by a window, but honestly, it only added to the creepy ambience that the city emanated.

Slowing down, I looked up into the semi-clouded night sky. Right above me, a waning moon shone, clouds encircling it like walls defending a keep. Yet they only served to frame it, to focus its pale light down upon the city. Truly, a marvelous sight. Despite its slight horror-esque feel, the empty city bathed in moonlight made me feel calm and relaxed. I just wanted to stand here, my head tilted upwards, and stare at the beautiful moon forever. Alas, such a wish was just not meant to be as I heard a clash of steel and the din of battle faintly, a distance away. With a sigh, I turned west and headed towards the sound of combat to fulfill my duties as an Arbiter, picking up speed and height as I went on. I arrived to find a large intersection which, by all rights, should be busy in a metropolis like this even at this hour yet it was quite empty save for several people. Sitting down on the edge of a store roof overlooking the place, I looked on, my legs swinging slightly from the wind as they hanged in the emptiness.

So, on one side we have 3 Sekirei's with their 3 Ashikabi's cheering them on…or I think they are cheering them on, whatever. A Sekirei in skimpy clothes with short dark hair and 2 ninjatos. A male, red head Sekirei with a bow and an infinite supply of icicle arrows he conjured on the spot. His choice of clothing was typically bizarre as all Sekirei clothing was, a red overcoat that he wore unbuttoned on his naked body with a pair of black jeans. The final member of their team was a young woman with dark blue hair and square glasses wearing what seemed like form fitting leather biker outfit. Her choice of weapons gave me a pause though, I mean, she had 2 nails connected by a fine chain. Not particularly something one would expect, but she used it fluently and the fact that the chain seemed to contract and expand at its wielder's will certainly added surprise points to the weapon.

Facing them, with a calm concentrated look on her face, was my good old acquaintance, Mai. The girl with short, blood red hair still wore that ridiculous schoolgirl outfit, seemingly unconcerned about the lack of stuff between her skin and her enemy's weapons. She also still carried around that huge piece of sharpened metal that is called a sword by mistake. In fact, unless my eyes deceive me, she abandoned her claymore for an even bigger, anime-esque piece of metal that was easily bigger and wider than she was. In fact, as I watched, she constantly used it as a shield to block her enemy's attacks. Slightly off to the side, her Ashikabi stood with a bow at the ready, the arrow notched but aimed downwards as he watched warily at the trio of Ashikabi across from him. He…I forgot his name…oh well; anyway, he seemed quite unflustered for someone whose soul mate was currently fighting a 3 on 1. Around his neck hanged a huge gem, the light of the moon causing it to glow an ethereal light.

Ah, this battle suddenly made sense to me now. We have a bunch of Ashikabi who banded together to take on a superior foe. No doubt the moment Mai falls, they'll turn on each other in their greed to get the Jinki much like a pack of hyenas. That is, if Mai falls which seems to be under a big question right now.

Thing is, it might be a 3 on scenario, but their lack of coordination and trust allowed their superior foe not only evade or block their attacks gracefully, but also smack them around. Mai's blade, which ordinary would've weighted twice or thrice her weight, whistled through the cool night air with seemingly no effort from the red head Sekirei. Amusingly enough, it's momentum stayed though as she swatted the ninjato Sekirei aside as the girl tried to leap at her. The poor girl got sent flying across the street and deep into a clothing shop for her troubles. She got quite lucky though, as she hit the glass door rather than the brick wall which was right beside said door.

Still, being hit by what was effectively a truck force-wise wasn't healthy even for us Sekirei who have much sturdier bodies than humans. So it was no surprise to me that when the Sekirei in question stumbled out of the clothing shop she was quite injured and, judging by her limp and how she kept her right arm over her ribs, in terrible shape. That was a massive amount of damage for a single hit and the moment she stumbled out of the shop, she tripped, fell and stilled, unmoving. It would seem that the fight is over for at least 1 contestant for the Jinki tonight.

By Mai's flawless dance, I could easily see why she won the 2nd round of Stage 3. Also, now that I've had a while to examine her from the side, I have a growing suspicion that her power is momentum and inertia related. That metal rail she sharpened for some reason and labeled as a sword is always in motion, never stopping. In fact, no matter what her opponent did, it never even slowed down. When Mai hit a homerun with that ninjato Sekirei, her blade acted like it never hit anything and merely continued on its merry way, pulling it's user out of the way of an arrow.

Fascinating how one moment Mai changed her sword's trajectory practically 180 degrees in an instant, completely ignoring things like momentum and inertia. Then, without breaking stride, she gets pulled in a completely random direction by seemingly nothing in order to dodge an enemy attack. Her absolutely confusing ability wreaked havoc on her enemies. Not only did they have to deal with a massive blade that could change trajectory in mid-flight, but Mai also kept getting pulled by seemingly random jerks all over the place, letting her reposition herself to constantly to keep her enemies at a disadvantage. Considering that she seemed perfectly in control of her ability, the fight wasn't going anywhere good for her opponents who had yet to show anything impressive.

Now that I look at her, I am not sure that I could best her by sheer sword skill anymore, not without Gate:Open giving me that massive edge I enjoy with it. In fact, considering I just saw Mai flip herself high into the air via her sword and then again, this time while in midair with no support before crashing down on her enemies with the force of a meteor all in the space of a second or 2… I think given more time, Mai might even give Kara a good fight. She's certainly capable of giving me one if this show is any indication of her skills.

"We are done here." Mai's Ashikabi said harshly to the trio who cowered a distance away. "Be gone."

Much to my surprise that quickly turned into dismay, the bastards fled without so much as bothering to check if their Sekirei were alive or not. What a shameful display. It was a pity that killing these assholes would also kill their Sekirei. Wait…hang on…

"Woah!" The fastest coward had to stop suddenly to avoid crashing into me, falling on his ass as he wasn't capable of ignoring momentum like Mai.

"Wha- Arbiter!?" His buddy, another standard looking young man cried out at my sudden descent from the sky, causing Mai and her Ashikabi to turn to us.

"Why are- Oh god!" The only woman of the group, a young girl, started speaking only to cry out in horror as I stomped on the leg of the downed man; a sharp crack and a scream ringing through the chill air. Before the other 2 could so much as take a step back in fear, I drew my swords and slashed at their legs. I made sure to wound them in such a manner that it would only be a flesh wound. I wanted to punish them for their behaviour, not leave them as cripples for their Sekirei to tend to.

"You are unworthy of being Ashikabi." I calmly told the moaning trio on the cold asphalt who clutched at their legs. Leaving the wretches behind, I made my way over to the closest downed Sekirei who happened to be the ninjato girl. After surveying her to find out that she seemed to have a ton of bruises and perhaps a few broken bones – her left arm bent at an odd angle – I was satisfied with the realization that she wasn't terminated. I picked her up gently and made it over to the crater that was left over from Mai's impressive attack that demolished her opponents. Ignoring Mai and her Ashikabi who both pointed their weapons at me in wariness, I surveyed the duo laying in a heap. Surprisingly, the male archer was perfectly fine, if one was to discount a massive bruised cut on his forehead. Must've been knocked out with a piece of debris. His partner on the other hand, was in terrible shape as she took on Mai's meteor attack practically with her face. There were dozens of bruises, cuts and a couple of the sharper debris pieces were actually stuck in her body, piercing the Sekirei's skin. Unless treated quickly, she'd no doubt bleed out, resulting in a Level 3 Termination.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" I turned to Mai and her Ashikabi who flinched at my attention. It would seem that they still thought quite highly of my abilities. I had to suppress a laugh at their faces when I promptly left, carrying 3 bodies, after getting the directions.

As I watched the doctors scramble to get the 2 girls into emergency surgery to save their lives while the male was treated for a severe contusion, I, more than ever, grew firm in my belief that humanity wasn't ready for Sekirei. And that Sekirei generally couldn't be trusted to pick their Ashikabi. Sure there were quite a few good Ashikabi in this city like Higa Izumi, Chiho Hidaka, Minato Sahashi and, hell, even Seo qualified to a degree. But for each one good Ashikabi there seems to be a good number of trash like the trio I ran into minutes ago who were perfectly happy to leave their Sekirei, their Bond-mates, to die as they fled without so much as a backwards glance. However, perhaps I am being a bit too...set in stone about this. After all, Higa used to be a total dick about the whole bonding thing until the death of one of his Sekirei made his realize that this wasn't all fun and games anymore. Perhaps these Ashikabi would grow up after me lesson? Well, I could dream I suppose but somehow I doubt that what I did was enough. It certainly wasn't the agonizing pain of a bond being broken after all.

No, when I and Kara go back, we will make sure to weed out trash like that, possibility or no. In fact, we'll need Akitsu, Takehito and Takami to figure out a way to break those sort of bonds. Hell, even death would be preferable to being bonded to filth like that. Hmm, I might be onto something here. I need to ask Akitsu what exactly happens to a Sekirei if their Ashikabi dies. Sure the short answer is death, but if the Tama stays intact couldn't we revive them? Maybe this would even 'reset' their bodies so to say. Well, this is certainly an idea I need to think more about…

It was with these thoughts that I walked through the ghostly Shinto Teito, heading towards the MBI Tower that looked maliciously over the rest of the metropolis.

* * *

><p>I leaned my head against the helicopter window and looked at the seemingly endless blue fabric, all bunched up and uneven as the waves marched on. Beside me, a ruffled up man sat, tied up and gaged to shut him up. Who he was, I didn't know but neither did I particularly care. Considering he was the only survivor of a group of suicidal thugs, his health was of no concern to me. I mean really, I think I might've mentioned before that normal people – as in those with a functional brain – tended to stay inside after sunset in Shinto Teito for the exact reason why this fool was in the helicopter with me right now. In fact, the only thing I lamented about this incident, was that I was so surprised by their ambush that by the time I came out of shock the other 4 muggers died of completely natural causes. The morgue might disagree with 'being sliced to bits' as a natural cause but in my honest opinion it was a completely natural cause of death for a bandit. They all ended up that way at one point of time or another, so the only one who'd suffer an 'unnatural' cause of death would be this guy who I took alive for the sake of experimentation. I needed to figure out how my Norito worked after all.<p>

Today it's going to be Haihane's turn to activate her Norito if I am not mistaken, I wonder if Kara will have her fight me. Although, now that I think about it, she won't. Haihane's speed is ludicrous in that Norito of hers which would force me to fight her seriously with the use of my abilities. Trouble is, although her speed is insane, her skill in using it and her general skill do not match with it by far. She simply does not have the overall characteristics to defeat me, speed alone will only serve to get her sliced to bits by Gate:Open.

She's in this strange zone where she can force me to fight seriously, yet by doing so she'll die. If I don't fight seriously on the other hand, she'll steamroll me. In comparison, Kara outclasses both of us to such a degree that she can defeat us without harm – or, in my case, serious harm. This is why I think Kara will train her to bring her general skills to match her ridiculous speed first before thinking about having her duel me.

It's this problem with me, really. I am far too dangerous for someone of my skill level. Sure, due to my Irregular nature, I am an excellent close combat fighter, but I am pretty sure a standard Enhancement type Sekirei with my training could obliterate me. However this is where the major 'but' came in. My danger level is preposterously higher than my skill level. Even Kara, with her incredible might and skill, if she's not careful when dueling with me, she can die in an instant. Having an ability that has absolutely no counter tends to do that.

Unfortunate, but nothing can be done about it. More importantly, back to Haihane getting caught up to her speed. If she does, I am afraid my poor little student will be left in the dust. With the addition of the Norito, Beni can do absolutely nothing to Haihane. I mean, if Uzume couldn't hit her even once with her supersonic arrows while Haihane was recuperating from her injuries, then there's no way Beni, who is much slower than the Silk Sekirei, would be able to do anything. Considering the fact that Beni's Norito is strictly anti-fortress or anti-building type, using it on Haihane is an absolute waste of power. Haihane would be able to practically walk out of the impact zone with her agility and speed.

Well, I guess there's nothing that could be done about this either. No matter how much Beni trains now, there's no way the Siege Sekirei will be able to defeat the Blue Sekirei. I mean really, forcing artillery and an assassin to go against each other may have made more sense before the assassin got a jet to get to the target.

So, instead of wasting Beni's time on duels, it's time to really focus on the Siege aspect of my cute little student's abilities. From now on, we're going to have so much fun leveling buildings, fortifications, islands… Perhaps, with Beni's power evolved enough, in the future we might see Beni sink entire islands and level cities. If she ever gets to that stage, I think her problem with duels might solve itself. I mean, it would be difficult to fight someone who just leveled the entire area and everyone in it.

Perhaps she'll be a bit unhappy about the harsh reality right now, but in the future I am sure my fiery eyed sister will make her name feared… Provided we survive this 'game' of course, I thought darkly as I stared at my fiddly captive.


	54. Gate:Pillar

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"Tch, of course they'd go far." I muttered to myself as I traveled across the barren landscape towards the sounds of combat and occasional tremor that originated in the Northern part of the island. Unlike the South part where we practised last time, the North part is much larger and hell of a lot more mountainous. The fact that I had my test subject on my back really didn't help as the damn bastard weighted a good bit. Normally, I wouldn't care but having to jump across mountainous terrain with baggage that refuses to stop squirming and keeps trying to…<p>

I stared at the shred of cloth in my hands and then at the body of captive rapidly growing smaller as it hurled towards the embrace of welcoming earth. How the fuck did he manage to not only rip the sweater and rope I carried him by but also do it right at the exact time I was jumping over a ravine so deep I couldn't even see the bottom? For fucks sake, I carried that smelly bastard all the way here only for him to escape and instantly fall to his death? Gods damn it, what a disappointment. Oh well, I thought as I tossed the shred of cloth after its owner, guess no Norito practise for me today. Might as well hurry up and find my team so I can join them in other training.

* * *

><p>I found them in a giant circle of black sand, a tell-tale sign of Beni's Norito. Said Sekirei was currently resting with her head in Chiho's lap as they watched Haihane in her Norito form fight Kara while Uzume provided ranged support. Kara on the other hand lazily swung her sword, the nodachi knocking arrows out of the sky and Haihane's claws away from its owner with ease. She also periodically blasted her opponents with various doses of her intimidation aura, occasionally going even so far as to call out the crow. To my surprise, they didn't so much as flinch – unless she brought out the crow – anymore. Looks like they've been doing this for a while for them to learn how to ignore it.<p>

I frowned as I felt a breeze of cold air on my neck and turned only to stumble back in surprise.

"D-don't do that!" I gasped at a faintly smirking Akitsu who hovered before me, great wings of crystal ice beating in the air softly.

"Good day, Rei." The ice Sekirei greeted me, that smirk still on her face, pleased that she snuck up on me successfully. I merely sighed in response, sometimes I wish my Ill Intent sense picked up more than Ill Intent. Pranks are not ill intent after all…most of the time.

Meanwhile, my arrival finally drew attention as Kara waved at me and by doing so alerted everyone else to my presence. While Beni and Chiho made their way over for a collective hug, Haihane and Uzume merely waved and took the pause to take a brief rest. Kara, in turn, beckoned me closer, her intent clear. With a smile full of anticipation I got out of the hug after ruffling Beni's and Chiho's hair and made my way over to Kara, drawing my swords as I went. I did miss out on our daily morning spar today after all.

"All 3 of you." Kara called out as I approached, my blades glowing faint blue, ready to tear the border between the realms apart.

"Are you sure?" I paused to ask, frowning. Although it is true that Kara far outclassed me in skill, the gap in our danger levels was practically diametrically reversed. Kara may pound people into the ground and her speed is phenomenal but she just didn't have the edge Gate:Open gave to me. An unblockable and unparriable attack that could instantly kill if it hits that I could literally use with every other blow was what made me so dangerous. Actually, now that I think about it, out of all of my abilities, only Gate:Nova can be blocked and that's because it's not a direct ability of mine. All of my other direct abilities like Gate:Swap and Gate:Random cannot be blocked, only dodged and this is where the problem with fighting 3 of us at the same time comes in. Kara may be good but when facing an opponent that could instantly kill you if you aren't paying enough attention any distractions – such as more opponents – could very well be deadly.

"It will be a good practise for me." Kara shrugged a grin full of eagerness on her face. "Let's go!"

With those words she charged me, amping her speed and power to a 'serious' mode. Looks like she wants to go all out all right away. Very well, let's see how this goes. I mean, Kara needs to evolve her power too somehow and none here but Akitsu can provide such a fight for our captain. The problem with getting Akitsu involved though is that they very well might sink the island back to from where it came if they get too carried away. Of course, I wouldn't be as stupid as to claim that the three of us were as powerful as former number 7 but I alone was just as dangerous. Kara always had to be on guard and treat me with great caution as one wrong move on her behalf might cost her a sword or more. All of this flashed through my mind as I frantically filled the space before me with rends in border of the Realms, keeping Kara away before Haihane and Uzume got over their shock of being hit by the full terror of Kara's crow phantom.

It was a little strange, but ever since I've spent that week in Spirit Realm, I found that my sense of fear atrophied greatly. In order for me to feel more than a mild discomfort the source of said fear has to be truly great. Something that would send others feeling with a mere whisper of its name. It's actually the main reason why I can stand Miya's, Kara's and Akitsu's intimidation techniques so well. Even now, with Kara's crow in full glory screeching at me, I only feel a slight chill inside. Yet that same screech rendered both Uzume and Haihane frozen in fear that they struggled to overcome. Unlike Chiho who was in Beni's arms with her eyes and ears covered, the two shivered in fear and they weren't even the target of Kara's technique. Still, Haihane's and Uzume's exposure to Kara's technique allowed them to slowly overcome their fear and I think they are just about ready to come to my aid.

I frowned as I began to feel the strain at fighting at such speeds and the fact that Kara's blows were literally hammering at me like a hammer on a nail. The fact that her miasma corroded my armour a bit with each glancing blow didn't help me at all. We've been fighting for maybe 30 seconds or so and half of my armour looks like it had been dipped in strong acid for a while. If this keeps going, I won't have armour to protect me for much longer. Thankfully, Kara's corrosive miasma seems to have no effect on the Sekirei metal my swords are made of because replacing those would've been impossible. Takami did make that particular part clear when I almost lost them by accident.

I breathed out in relief when instead of landing another glancing blow on my armour Kara changed her blade's trajectory to deflect an arrow and then whirl to force Haihane back before ending the spin with a thunderous blow that I blocked. True, I slid back a foot from the force but now that I had allies distracting Kara, fewer blows came my way.

That being said, although Uzume and Haihane had experience fighting against a superior foe together as a team, they certainly didn't have much experience fighting alongside me. I had the same problem as to this day, I never actually fought against someone with a team supporting me. I always either fought alone or fled if things got too dangerous. The few times I had backup – like the fight on the bridge – I still mostly fought alone. Thankfully though, all 3 of us trusted each other and knew one another enough to at least not get in each other's way. Sure, there were several…dozen close calls but we managed to lock down Kara who was fighting us seriously for several minutes now.

This couldn't continue though. Although Kara actually showed signs of fatigue for once, sweat on her forehead and temples, her dementedly gigantic grin showed that she was having far too much fun for something as little as fatigue to slow her down any time soon. We on the other hand were getting worn out. Although Kara focused on me, Haihane still got hit by the occasional miasma coated riposte which really did a number on her. Most of her clothes and bandages were eroded away and several blades on her claws were missing.

I, having taken the brunt of Kara's assault, was getting really worried about my armour now. Bits and pieces of it were falling apart right before my eyes, the miasma corroding them into nothingness. I also was getting really tired as I've never fought for so long at the peak of my skill. I was starting to make mistakes and the only reason why I didn't catch a direct blow so far was thanks to Uzume, whose supersonic arrows forced Kara to abandon the attacks and deflect the arrows instead.

Uzume was being incredibly useful truth be told. As a support, she traveled around the battlefield on those silk strands of hers, easily getting good angles from which she rained arrows on our sparring partner. True, she did absolutely no damage, but then again, neither did we. Even Kara's clothes were in perfect shape. Still, Uzume's silky spears, that she insists are arrows, are incredible at distracting Kara who has to put some effort in deflecting them due to their mass and speed. Granted, all this actually means is that instead of spending irate instant to swat it away, she spends 2 or 3 but in a high speed battle such as this having a couple more moments is enough to get out of the way and rebuild one's guard in preparation for the next strike.

"I think we are done, for now." Kara said suddenly and next thing I know I am flying backwards, a ditch of fine sand created as the earth catches my form. Propping myself up, I see Haihane drunkenly get up from the end of a similar trench while Kara stood, breathing heavily with her face drenched with sweat. Her sword was unwavering though and still coated in that miasma that slowly dripped down on the black sand, a faint hiss erupting each time it contacted the ground. Off to the side, Uzume rested; the silk Sekirei trusted Kara's words and hit the floor instantly. Or maybe she was just so tired; she did have to shoot those white lances of hers that littered the battleground approximately twice a second. Considering she had to first draw that great bow of hers first, then create and knock her lance-arrow, take aim and only then did she fire, I wouldn't doubt that Uzume was even more tired than I or Haihane were.

Speaking of Haihane, the instant she realized that the fight was over, she deactivated her Norito and fell face forward into the black sand, asleep the moment she let go. While Chiho and Beni rushed over to check on her, I forced myself up, sheathed my swords and walked over to Kara. The Black Sekirei stood panting, that psychotically happy grin still on her face. She did sheathe her nodachi and dismiss her phantom though.

"We should do this again." Kara said as I stopped before the happy woman. "You actually pushed me."

"We might not be able to do it again today though." I turned to look at Beni and Chiho who tried to raise Haihane. Their efforts were futile though, as the Blue Sekirei ignored them and slept on. The duo eventually gave up and carried her over to where they sat and watched us from. Uzume waved lazily to greet them as she lay sprawled on the sand at the location.

"Today, tomorrow, it doesn't matter." I was startled as strong arms enveloped me from behind and I could feel Kara lean against me, sighing in contentedness. "We will all grow stronger from this."

I merely smiled softly and covered her hands with mine as we both looked at the approaching Akitsu who still had her wings out.

"Haihane has severe exhaustion." She began in her usual soft tone. "She'll be fine tomorrow but I doubt she'll wake before then. Uzume is fine but I suggest against straining her more today. How about you Rei?"

"I'll recover completely by evening." I admitted. I may seem fine but fighting for so long at the peak of my strength had left me quite drained. I could still draw my blades and fight but it would be a pathetic sight. Out of everyone who participated in that fight only Kara was fine. A bit more rest and our captain would be at full power once more.

"I see, that is good." Akitsu said seriously. "I just got a call from the Director. He has round 4 scheduled for tomorrow and has an important mission that he needs the Disciplinary Squad for so he asked you to return by morning."

"Tch, very well." Kara rolled her eyes, showing just how little she thought of the White Clown's 'important mission'.

"Rei, why did Kochou call me and start discussing things she shouldn't know with me?" Akitsu asked calmly but her eyes were slightly narrowed, showing her irritation with me.

"Because I made a deal with Higa for which she was present and thus heard my end of the bargain." Sensing slight movement behind me I tilted my head to Kara. "Kochou is a Sekirei of Higa's old friend so they were both invited by him."

"Higa?" Kara muttered to herself. "Ah, that Ashikabi who was there at the 3rd Round. Very well, now what was the deal."

"I gave him some information on Norito and he called of all current and future assassins he had going after Chiho." I admitted freely and then continued. "I mean, sure we can protect our Ashikabi but that would mean we'd have to be with her constantly and everywhere. I very much doubt Haihane, Beni or Uzume could protect her from a sniper's bullet and all other ways to protect our dear Ashikabi are too troublesome."

"And you expect Higa Izumi to hold his word?" Akitsu carefully raised her left eyebrow.

"He changed over the past month." I said simply. "I trust him now."

"Very well." Kara finally replied as she let go and walked over to stand beside me, her grin finally back to her usual level. "You've protected Chiho from underhand play, that's good. Was there anything else, Akitsu?"

"Actually, I have a question if you don't mind." I addressed the icy Sekirei who merely waited for me to continue. "I've talked with number 109, Dai some time ago and she explained the type-subtype system to me. She also mentioned that Kara was an Enhancement Squared type but if that's true, what's up with the corrosive miasma?"

"Enhancement Squared?" Kara looked at me in surprise. "What is this?"

"I am sure Rei will fill you in later, Karasuba." Akitsu paused, looking at me before deciding something for herself. "The system number 109 talks about is outdated. Takami and I have decided to discontinue it in favour of making a new one. We are still working it out but I can tell you that while Karasuba did in fact start out as Enhancement Type with Enhancement Subtype, she also gained an additional subtype. Her Corrosion Subtype is something she gained as she stepped on the path to become a Pillar. I am sorry, I cannot tell you more in case this information falls into wrong hands. For whatever reasons."

"Path to become a Pillar?" Kara frowned. "What's this – Hey! Get back here!"

"I'll see you at MBI tower tomorrow." Akitsu replied before taking off sharply, her icy wings beating fast to give her an incredible acceleration as she flew straight to Shinto Teito, not bothering to take a helicopter there.

"Tch, she got away." Kara frowned in disappointment before looking at her hands as if it was her first time seeing them. "Pillar, huh?"


	55. Gate:Infiltrators

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Many apologies but so many things kept getting in the way of me posting the chapters I've written. That being said, I did keep writing during this minor hiatus it's just that my style of writing involves me writing the story via pen/paper and then I transfer it onto word and only then do I post it. Allows me to error check as well as edit and w/e twice before you see the result. Trust me, although there are quite a few errors that evade me (I am the author, it's difficult to see them as my muse automatically fills/fixes all errors in my head as I read) it's nothing like the first draft...

That reminds me that I should think about possibly looking for a Beta as some of the errors are quite frankly a bit aggravating/facepalm worthy in the hindsight...

Still, I won't post everything I have right away, I'll keep it as a buffer for now and think on the plot as it stands right now. Considering that the end is -relatively- nigh (obligatory religious picture here) I am still trying to figure out how to tie up all the loose ends and what not... I am also debating whether or not this is now considered a Sekirei/ResEvil crossover or not... I mean, it sort of is and at the same time there's just too little from ResEvil here to make it more than a glorified cameo.

Regardless, that's for me to figure out (although your input would be nice I think) and you can in the mean time read the latest update to Number 51.

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><p>"For the last time, No!" We could hear Takami yell at someone as we approached Minaka's office all the way from the elevators. "Those stupid devices of yours are just plain murder! Don't you understand that if they activate-"<p>

"My dear Takami, who do you think I am?" Minaka's lighthearted voice was quieter but still carried as he used his 'stage' voice "Of course I thought it through when I developed these nifty little cards! They only sever the bond between the Ashikabi and their Sekirei and nothing more. The Ashikabi will just fall into a short coma and then-"

"You absolute imbecile!" We heard Minaka cry out and the sound of someone being bludgeoned by a something echoed through the hall. "Aside from murdering the Sekirei, which I see you don't give a flying fuck about, 50% or more of those Ashikabi just won't ever wake from that coma while the rest will suicide immediately upon getting out of it!"

"No! My designs-!"

"You're not using these cards Minaka, end of story." The doors to Minaka's office opened just as we were about to reach it and Takami stormed out clutching a box filled with inconspicuous looking black and white cards with some design on them. Behind her, ignoring Minaka's calls to stop like the gray haired woman before her, Akitsu elegantly strolled out, nodding to us as she practically glided past us. Takami also spared us a sharp nod before carrying on, her red face and angry features showing just how enraged the Director of Sekirei research was.

"It doesn't matter anyway Takami!" Minaka shouted, looking quite demented in his ruffled state with an insane look, at the duo who paused before the elevators. "Come new moon, it won't matter if you saved them or not! There is nothing you, Takehito, the Disciplinary Squad or even I can do about that fact! Your efforts are absolutely worthless! You hear me Takami? You may think you're so smart, going behind my back trying to 'save' Sekirei but the ones you 'save' are worthless in the grand scheme of things! Your hard work is absolutely meaningless as the final moon cycle of the Old World approaches! Your scurrying about, your desperate struggles change NOTHING!"

Takami didn't bother turning back as she walked into the elevator. Akitsu, on the other hand, glanced at the ruffled White Clown with the cold interest of a scientist deciding if the disgusting slug before her was even worth dissecting or not. The frigid aura and frost creeping along the marble from her feet only increased the effect. Even Minaka paused and grew slightly pale while Beni and Haihane shivered. Chiho on the other hand paled to the extent of a freshly dug up corpse. Thankfully, the MBI CRO turned on her heels and walked off into the elevator, apparently deciding that the bug before her was just not worth the effort.

I followed her with a detached gaze, wondering just what brought upon this scene. What Minaka just yelled out right now was extremely troubling as he claimed our efforts useless and yet neither Akitsu nor Takami showed even a sliver of surprise. Did they think him delusional? Or perhaps they knew something they didn't tell me? After taking a look at Kara with her seemingly plain and bored expression, I could tell that she was quite surprised and concerned about Minaka's words. Yet she didn't let anything beyond faint signs slip past her grinning mask so I think I should do the same. Right now is not the time for this but we are having a talk about this in very immediate future, there's no doubt about that.

That's without mentioning the other elephant in the room sort to speak. Whatever those cards that Takami confiscated from Minaka were, from what they said those flimsy, tiny things could break a Sekirei-Ashikabi bond, something that would result in the instant death of at least one of the pair if not both. The news that it's possible alone is horrifying, the fact that Minaka managed to actually make them and into something so inconspicuous as well is downright panic inducing. Thank the gods that Takami managed to take them away. Hopefully she and Akitsu will figure out a way to defend against them in case Minaka ever plans to stealthily assassinate pairs he doesn't like.

"Khmm, ah! You're just on time!" Minaka exclaimed, already back in his extravagant attitude in the time I spent with my thoughts, only the state of his clothes and a massive bruise forming on his forehead telling that something happened a while ago. "Come in, you're going to love this mission. Protecting the Sekirei, just as you like it."

Kara and I exchanged a brief look. This was rare, Minaka didn't often outright tell us that a mission would protect our kin directly. Oh sure, we'd protect them circumstantially, by removing threats to MBI and, thus by proxy, to Sekirei. The number of times Minaka directly stated that we'd protect our race by doing a particular mission is quite few and almost always involved a Sekirei in trouble, current or future.

"It seems like the Americans didn't take you little lesson to heart." Minaka's face twisted like he was forced to eat a particularly sour lemon. "Or maybe they think they own MBI like they own Japan. Well, I think you and I shall teach them another lesson, one they wouldn't be able to forget so easily."

Minaka was going with us? That was the question clearly visible on our faces and the White Clown laughed jovially at seeing it.

"Don't worry; I won't do something stupid like endanger your race or the Glorious Sekirei Plan by going with you to the front lines." Minaka calmed us. "No, while you do your thing, I'll be quite busy fighting on my own end. I'll be on the political arena, making sure my other partners know of this treachery."

"Now, the plan details." Minaka spun 480 degrees and waved his hands in a seemingly random manner. Four giant projectors in the upper corners of the room came to life and projected a 3D holographic image of Japan and then zoomed into Okinawa. A dozen or so red dots popped up and their names appeared. One of the dots, just a bit off shore, was pulsating and that was our destination I'd wager, an American military base.

"MBI ID recently found out that all prototype Sekirei technology devised by Umbrella have been relocated to Okinawa only days prior to your little visit to America." Minaka lectured as an image appeared in thin air of some guy in a lab coat titled 'Dr. Nikita Stanislavski'. This man is the one of the head scientists of Umbrella Ourobos Division. Whatever it is, it's incredibly secured as all we managed to find out to date is that it exists and that it's extremely secret. Even finding this picture and this man's name was incredible luck. Regardless, Umbrella is currently practically on it's death bed thanks to your efforts and this operation should push them over the brink."

"But that's beside the point." He waved airily. "What does matter is that this particular man was very deep into the Sekirei Project so killing him should tie all loose ends from the previous mission."

"Um, question." Chiho raised a hand hesitantly. "We destroyed all of their laboratories and research, is one man really that much of a threat?"

"Generally, no." The White Clown shrugged. "However, this man directly oversees all Umbrella Sekirei tech prototypes and the fact that he managed to evacuate most of his finished projects prior to your visit means that Umbrella could easily restart the Project if he and his work are still around."

"Anyway, your mission at this base is to tie up loose ends." Minaka adjusted his glasses, the gesture catching the sun and causing the glasses to turn into a mirror for a moment. "Primary objective is to kill Dr. Stanislavski. The secondary objective is to destroy any Sekirei related Umbrella technology you find. Of course, if you level the base completely, I wont be against it."

"Now, before you go off, there are 2 more things." Minaka called out. Kara and I paused in mid-turn and looked at our 'employer' warily. What now?

"Seeing as Okinawa is practically crawling with Americans and their bases," Minaka clearly showed his distaste at this. "You need to be fairly quick with your mission. The moment you attack, Americans will send aid from surrounding bases and eventually overwhelm you. The longer you stay, the more jets, helicopters, marines and ships will arrive. You may be exemplary Sekirei but even you can be buried in corpses."

"Because of this," Minaka wrapped up his overly long mission explanation. "I am forced to send one of MBI's aces with you. They'll meet up with you on your floor. I am sure you'll find their skills extremely useful like I have."

* * *

><p>"This mission…" Beni frowned as we took the elevator to our floor. "I don't know, I've heard plenty of civilians practically live on those bases."<p>

"It doesn't matter." Kara replied with a faint smile, excited at the promising fight ahead. "If they are smart, they'll run when the fun starts. If not, well, it's not like we'll aim for them specifically so if they die it'll be the fault of the Americans."

Chiho opened her mouth at this with a frown but then sighed and said something else instead.

"Very well." She pouted "Just try to aim carefully."

"What." Beni asked with a deadpanned expression as we all looked at her. The Siege Sekirei was the only one in this group whose attacks were hardly accurate. Of course, considering all of them were area-of-effect, she doesn't need to be accurate generally.

"You're probably anti-air for this mission Beni." I smirked at her pout. "Don't worry, as Minaka said, there are several American Military Aerodromes nearby."

"How do you know?" Uzume asked with interest.

"Rei and I make it our business to know everything nearby that is relevant to our job." Kara replied carelessly as we piled out of the elevator and walked our suite. "Never know when they do something stupid that will attract our attention."

The moment we walked inside, I paused. Something was off. It was as if someone had their eyes on me in intent interest but due to the lack of Ill Will in that interest I couldn't tell where or how far the watcher was. Meanwhile, Haihane and Beni also adopted wary looks as they felt that things weren't right. Only Chiho, Uzume and Kara walked on like they didn't notice anything.

"You have until the count of 3." Kara drew her sword so fast that even I only saw a blur. The long blade of her nodachi was currently hanging in mid-air, the target invisible to our eyes. "One."

"Wow, Minaka didn't lie when he said that joking around with you was a bad idea." A young, glasses wearing boy with brown windswept hair materialized from thin air. "Alright, calm down, it was –"

"Two." Kara said calmly, her eyes nowhere near the boy as she stared at something only she could see a couple meters off.

"How can you see me?" A girl's voice rang out from seemingly nowhere. Next moment, a pretty, short girl with long red hair so dark it was almost black, appeared out of thin air only a meter away from Kara's blade. Despite her showy appearance, I was pleasantly surprised by how normal she looked like. Perhaps model material by human standards but her body type wasn't as ridiculous as Kazehana, Kochou or Musubi; she was more slim and athletic looking instead. Her dress was fairly extravagant though, perhaps not as bad as some of my kind – and I refuse to accept that my armour is extravagant, it's completely practical – but still quite noticeable. The girl who looked like she was in her late teens wore a sleeveless silk blouse with beige shorts and black mid-thigh stockings with equally black gloves that reached all the way to her shoulders.

All of that was just a mere glance as the moment I saw twin scabbards on her hips all of my attention was instantly on her weapons. I wish I could say that dual wielding was at the very least rare amongst my kind. But that'd be a lie, this girl is the first one I've ever seen with dual swords, myself exempt of course. The closest I've seen would be knife users. However, am loathe to count them as true dual wielders as they tend to keep throwing those knives everywhere and are more of medium to short range fighters rather than true close combat fighters like myself.

From what I could see, her scabbards were rather odd. They were very short - just long enough to prevent me from calling their contents long knives – and they were quite wide. The scabbard's width was a dead giveaway that the sword within wasn't an Asian blade, but it was also too wide for the European blades, at least, nothing one handed that I knew fit the bill. Perhaps it was a custom made blade? Or perhaps it was something exotic? I knew for sure that judging by its thickness and length, it's a very close combat blade made to deliver devastating wounds. Knowing that she can somehow go invisible, I can see how she'd use her weapons to kill her targets. Sneak up and deliver a single hit that is guaranteed to strike at least 1 major organ just from the size of the blade and bleed the target out quickly.

"How did you see me?" The girl grumbled, her voice melodically entrancing despite her disgruntled state. "My ability can't be seen though even by specialized equipment."

What an interesting ability, I thought as I stopped trying to figure out her weapons and focused back on the girl. Something like that would be quite useful for a stealth mission that Minaka wants us to do. Yet, why would he send us if he has an assassin like this under his sleeve? Let's face it, the Disciplinary Squad is not a fine 'tool' to use in situations like this. We are more of a sledgehammer rather than the surgical knife he hinted at requiring. We can easily accomplish his mission by razing the entire base to the ground but he wants us to get in and out fast at the same time…

"An illusion?" Kara asked, studying the girl with interest. "Regardless of what your ability is, I simply felt you. You might not have noticed it, but Rei, Haihane and Benitsubasa all noticed your presence the moment we walked in."

"Well, it's not really an illusion per say," The boy stepped back with a smile and gave a short bow. "I am Yasuhiro Aizen and this is my Sekirei Number 55 Saki, the Illusive Sekirei. Saki can sort of interfere with how the universe works with a bunch of restrictions. It wasn't that Saki used an illusion or something else to hide us, the universe got tweaked to state that we simply cannot be seen."

"That's quite cool bro," Uzume looked at Saki in fascination. "But why tell us all of your Sekirei's secrets straight up like that?"

"Well, we are both MBI employees that will now work together." The boy shrugged nonchalantly. "So for us to be of use, you must know what we can do."

"Uhm, we aren't really employed by MBI Yasuhiro." Chiho smiled welcomingly at Yasuhiro. "But I look forward to working with you."

"I guess I'll be in your care." The young lad smiled back. "But please, call me Aizen. I feel that my life had made my first name too ironic for me to stomach. Of course, I doubt my dead parents knew who I'd become when they picked my name but it certainly doesn't fit me."

"So, Aizen," I easily accepted his request. It was much easier to say than his first name after all anyway. "Do tell us about yourself and Saki, we have a bit of time we should probably spend familiarizing with each other."

"Eh, there isn't much to say really." Aizen shrugged easily as he took a seat on a bar stool. "Saki reacted to a street urchin and we've been together ever since. Because Saki is MBI's assassin and spy, I learned the tools of the trade so I'd be useful to my Sekirei."

"You're an assassin?" Chiho's eyes opened wide in surprise. "But you look like a middle-school student!"

"Well, technically I am one." Aizen snickered at Chiho's stunned expression. "But it doesn't stop me from skipping class to go help Saki kill people."

"But you're just a kid!" Uzume blurted out, staring at the boy incredulously. The rest of us, minus Chiho, looked at the kid with newfound respect. To think he'd go so far for his bond-mate, he's definitely a worthy Ashikabi judging by the looks of pure adoration his Sekirei keeps sending him.

"I know right?" Aizen grinned happily, his dark brown eyes behind his square glasses glinting predatory. "They underestimate me and I kill my targets with ease. They have the funniest expression when they die as they realize that a kid got them."

"Ho? And just what can you do, boy?" Kara looked at Aizen lazily, seemingly with no interest in his answer. I, on the other hand, knew Kara and I knew she was goading him right now into showing off. To my surprise though, Aizen merely laughed.

"Alas, my abilities are fairly unimpressive for some one of your renown, Lady Karasuba." Aizen leaned back to rest against the bar table as he continued. "I am a proficient sniper as well as a decent shot with silenced pistols. I can also lock pick practically any lock given time. I can also create Improvised Explosive Devices or IED which are excellent for diversions and crafting bombs on the spot. All in all, I have – and still am – been trained for infiltrator work and I am currently studying computer programming to hack things."

"So why can't you just kill the scientist and destroy the prototype tech by yourself?" Beni asked with a frown. "Why are we even here?"

"Diversion?" I guessed randomly, looking at Aizen.

"Sort of." Saki replied instead as she leaned gently against her Ashikabi who hugged her with his left arm. "I can get in and kill Dr. Stanislavski while Aizen sets up C4 in the warehouse with the prototype equipment. But our chances of leaving once the job is done are quite low. So we need you to make some racket and draw their attention so we can get away."

"That sounds like a legitimate plan." Haihane grinned, her fingers caressing her claws that hanged off at her belt. "Making some racket… Now that we can do quite fine."

"So that's the bare bones." Kara nodded and turned to Chiho who took a deep breath, determination appearing on her face.

"Let's work out the details." Our Ashikabi said, remembering that this time, it's all her as Kara won't help her with the plan.

I felt a grin inch its way across my face, this will be quite a fun event, I can just feel it.


	56. Gate:Assault

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: I'll speak only this in my defence for not updating earlier: Gods damn the Huns! (Total War: Atilla)

Note: Yay reviews! I mean, we all know by now that, much like Trolls seem to evolve on Tears of the Internet, Authors evolve on reviews received.

* * *

><p>"Are we in the right place?" Chiho asked uncertainly as we walked through a forest, occasional houses and lights making it seem like it was more of a park than a forest. Honestly, all but me and Kara – who did our research – were confused. The only base we've hit that was somewhat like this one, where civilian and military districts mixed into an odd amalgamation, were the CIA Headquarters that were on the outskirts of a city. And even then I'd hesitate at calling the CIA Headquarters a base in the first place…<p>

Generally, the bases would at least be completely separated from public as it makes base defence so much easier if there aren't panicked civilians running everywhere, including into areas they aren't allowed to. Yet this particular base, or rather it was a series of bases located in and around a city, had 3 'factions', so to speak, inside the perimeter. There were, of course, the US Marines who quite frankly, owned the whole thing. Then there were the Japanese Self Defence Force, or JDSF, presence which was mostly young trainees with no professionalism in them whatsoever yet. And finally, there were the civilians. They were split into 2 parts: civilians who provided service to and inside the bases and civilians who actually lived in the city around the base. All in all, from first and second glance, this was not a proper military base that could survive any half decent assault. Well, it'd survive a sea-based assault which is what it's geared to, but considering we are coming in from land, they are quite frankly, screwed. I am pretty sure that had Chiho so much as considered the option, we would have leveled the whole place with relative ease. With Beni being portable flak cannon, the only worry we'd have would be sea-side artillery, a widely inaccurate venture bearing in mind its night time and we are rather small targets.

However, we weren't here to raze this insult to security to the ground as we should've. As always, Chiho was unyielding in making sure that only those who absolutely must die, should die. As such, when we are raising hell in order to allow Aizen and Saki escape, we'd be careful and avoid killing indiscriminately. The fine line here was that anyone with a weapon was a perfectly viable target and seeing as we will be assaulting a military installation…

I've also had a word with Uzume who had been there with Chiho since the end of 3rd Round and Kara, whose watchful eye sees all. I was a bit concerned with how Chiho was taking the fact that that fight killed so many people. For someone as caring as Chiho who did her best to limit the amount of death and pain around her to find out that the fight she participated in resulted in close to a hundred thousand corpses was… However, it would seem that Uzume managed to distract her long enough for Kara to arrive who somehow – I swear she's a magician for doing this – managed to convince our angst filled Ashikabi that this result was far better than the much more probable versions. In fact, Kara managed to convince her that, aside from us knowing that Minaka had a helicopter with a Jinki aboard flying overhead and shooting it down, this was quite frankly one of the very few variants that didn't result in the entire city getting razed all the way down to sewers.

Really, I don't know what she did, what facts and arguments she brought up but now Chiho is convinced that thanks to us, the damage to the city was minimal compared to the much worse alternatives. Our Ashikabi is now very motivated to end the Sekirei Plan. Oh and she also hates Minaka for orchestrating the whole thing but that's just the cherry on top of the cake. Also, yuck…I hate those cherries…

While we walked through this 'park' Aizen and Saki were somewhere far ahead. The boy was setting up explosions anywhere and everywhere there was even a shred of evidence of Sekirei based technology used while his Sekirei was somewhere deep in the base, looking for our target. As soon as they get into position, they'll call us and then the fun will start. Until then though, they and we have to be quiet and –

"Hey, who goes there?" We turned to see a young Japanese soldier fumble around as he tried to unholster his rifle while at the same time preventing his unzipped pants from falling off completely. "This is a restricted…area…"

He gulped and dropped his rifle as he raised his hands up, paling so badly that I could see it even in the practically lightless twilight around us. The fact that he also dropped his pants only made the situation more comical. I couldn't help but giggle lightly at the soldier's plight. Poor boy, barely out of his teenage years, surely didn't expect this situation. I mean, few would expect to end up with a lance-arrow pointed at practically 0 distance at them when they go to take a leak in the bushes while patrolling a base deep in friendly territory which hadn't seen conflict for more than 70 years.

Still, this leaves us with having to deal with this boy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately for Chiho, who looked at Kara and me haplessly, neither of us would help her with this situation. I mean, both Kara and I would've just killed the misfortunate witness and calmly carried on with our mission but this wasn't about what we'd do. This was about Chiho realizing that she's truly our Ashikabi, our leader. That for a Sekirei, the Ashikabi was the one who had the final say…with a few exceptions, but that's irrelevant for now. Regardless, Chiho needs to learn to lead us, to make the tough and difficult decisions as she is the Ashikabi of 5 Sekirei who entrust everything they are to her.

"Uzume, tie him up and hide him." Chiho huffed at our unhelpful grins and turned to her trusted Shroud.

The poor boy had barely the time to let off a yelp before silky strands came into being around Uzume and lashed out, turning their target into a white cocoon not unlike that of a spider. Within several seconds, a seemingly solid cocoon hanged high up on the nearby tree, completely silent and unmoving.

"Uh…is he alive?" Chiho asked her nonchalant Shroud nervously. "I mean, can he breathe like that?"

"Don't worry my love," Uzume shamelessly grinned as she embraced her Ashikabi from behind and whispered sensually into her ear. "He can breathe just fine like that. Interested in trying out something akin to this sometime?"

"What?" Chiho looked confused for a moment before comprehension dawned on her and she blushed hard. "N-No!"

The two quietly argued for the next several minutes as Uzume, with Haihane's total support, besieged the fortress that was Chiho, trying to get her to accept to play a game of bondage sometime in the immediate future. Chiho, blushing and extremely embarrassed to have this conversation, held fast, defending herself from the perverted duo as if her life depended on it. To be honest, if she yields to the perverts, they really might end up screwing her to death at some point in the future. Tragic, if I wasn't too busy trying my best not to burst out laughing. Soon Beni joined in, the white knight defending her king in this rapidly escalating battle, taking Uzume and Haihane by surprise. Alas, the respite was brief and soon the champions of debauchery regrouped and quickly drove the defenders back into a blushing and stuttering defence.

Kara and I on the other hand only kept half an ear on their battle of Epic proportions as we were growing concerned by the lack of signs from the infiltrator duo. Aizen and his Sekirei should've moved into position by now yet there wasn't a single shred of information from them. After exchanging a glance, I nodded at Kara, agreeing to what she conveyed to me silently. At this point, I've been on far too many missions with her to not know what she wanted to do. In fact, I myself wanted to go in through the metaphorical front door and attack head on. Sure, the opposition theoretically had Sekirei tech, or so Minaka claims, but on our side there was Kara, an armada all in herself, Chiho, who could empower us, Beni, who could turn this base into finely powdered sand and me, who could pull us all out if things went south. Of course, the perverted duo was nothing to scoff at either. So I honestly couldn't picture what kind of an opposition could actually stop us. Especially considering our opponents were human.

"This is Aizen," My speakers suddenly came to life as we agreed to use my suit for communication. "The storages are empty, something isn't right here, over."

"Saki reporting." The serious voice of Aizen's Sekirei came in. "Aizen, get out of there, I am in position."

And that was our queue. In case someone was eavesdropping on our conversations, we agreed to not talk and Aizen with Saki won't mention us. So now we were to move out and make some noise to let the infiltrators escape. The information about Aizen being unable to destroy what we came for was troubling though, especially if there was an ambush waiting to happen.

"Let's go." Chiho steeled herself and turned her head to us. "Remember, I may have told you to try and avoid killing people, but if your lives are in danger, you are by far more important to me. Remember that well."

After seeing everyone nod with a smile, Chiho took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before nodding and advancing forward. All about her, her Sekirei came into motion. Beni got enveloped by a faint red aura that rapidly gained in intensity as she heavily stomped forward, beginning her Shock Charge. Uzume and Haihane leaped upwards, taking the highway through tree branches to get to a tall building where one will provide sniper support while another guards the sniper. Kara merely strolled off into another direction, disappearing into the shadows without a trace as the Black Sekirei made her way to the rendezvous point to meet our infiltrator duo. I on the other hand, simply drew my blades and stepped forth to shadow my Ashikabi, concentrating on protecting her.

Alas, this time I couldn't simply pull her into the Spirit Realm with Gate:Swap as we might need a Norito at any given time for a variety of reasons. After Kara confirms that she has both Aizen and Saki with her, that's when I can start pulling people into the Spirit Realm as we make our escape. It just wouldn't do for us to require a Norito and Chiho not being able to give it as singular Gate:Swap lasted a minimum of an hour.

I smiled faintly as somewhere ahead a building shuddered and cracked, sending a plume of dust into the air. Looks like Beni started doing her job as the 'distraction'. Or rather a train of destruction that steamrolled anything in her way. By the time a second dust plume rose into the night sky, an alarm rang out, the sirens screeching into the night, telling everyone who missed the previous 2 tremors that yes, they were in fact under attack.

I huffed when a third tremor shook the ground half a minute later and gunfire began to break through the sirens. The incompetence of the defenders was astonishing. No real patrols, no fortifications, extremely slow reaction time. I am surprised that these people lived here till now. Judging by their performance, I'd have expected them to get defeated by a rat invasion or a mosquito infestation or something.

10 Minutes in, the sirens could only be barely heard over the sounds of gunfire, explosions, buildings going down and the screaming. This is why I thought that having civilians near a military base is stupid. Now that there's bullets and explosives flying everywhere, both Chiho and I saw quite a few of the panicking civilians get moved down either by stray bullets or misguided fire. The soldiers, the Marines to a lesser extent and the JDSF to a greater, were confused and panicky, firing at anything they thought suspicious, which – thanks to the darkness, damaged lights and fires – happened to be the civilians. I would think it make sense to fire at the ball of angry, vividly red energy that was moving about at cruise speed, turning anything it met into fine dust and fine mist, but that just might be me. I am not a soldier after all, what would I know? That being said, at this point, Beni's Shock Charge shield is charged to such a degree that nothing short of a solid diamond wall would stop her. Or something equivalent if solid diamond walls are difficult to find. Regardless, shooting at my disciple directly would accomplish nothing. Shooting explosives at the ground nearby and praying that she'd fumble is probably their best bet right now, provided they knew that the shield existed only so long as she kept moving.

I looked up into the sky as helicopters appeared, ready to pour missiles and bullets at the red ball that was slowly turning the base into something resembling Swiss cheese. Alas, they didn't get a chance as I watched Uzume join the fray. White lances flashed across the night sky, lit by fire and lights, accompanied by sonic booms audible even over the general din going on about. One by one the helicopters either exploded in mid air or crashed into the ground, their pilots dead. There were a couple that pulled out sharply and fled in fear but I doubt they'll come back and be a threat.

This actually reminds me, I should ask Uzume how she's fine after getting hit by sonic booms constantly at point blank range. I mean, that should hurt or something, right? Or maybe my physics knowledge is a bit sketchy – which would make total sense considering I never formally learned it, merely absorbed it from Archive. And even then, since I didn't absorb all of Archive there's a really big chance that something I am missing is still there within him. From what little I know – and I don't know a lot because what I do know only applies to planes – the shock wave portion of her supersonic lances should hurt as they hit her point blank. Clearly, this isn't the case as she fires them up to twice a second with seemingly no detrimental effect…

Whatever, I'll think about this later, not in the middle of a war zone, especially not as jets began to fly around, occasionally dipping down to hit Beni with a missile or a bullet burst. Hardly useful as her shield is now the strongest I've ever seen in being, but obviously annoying. Uzume tried to hit the agile metal birds with a couple lances but gave up as they failed to get anywhere remotely close. So instead she switched back to ground targets as they were something she could actually reach and hit.

I glanced at Chiho who was biting her nails as she stared at the jets with a frown. Both Kara and I knew that our Ashikabi was making a mistake by assigning Beni as the main distraction. Sure she fit the bill best out of all of us, but without her we don't have any real air deterrence. However, since the fighting is going to be going near and in a light forest, inside of their own base and considering the fighter jets can't really get a lock-on on small, relatively cold targets, we let her mistake go. It's relatively minor, all things considered as the unopposed air superiority would grant our enemies no practical advantage, especially now that smoke began to rise to the sky as trees and buildings began to burn. It was a relatively minor error that both Kara and I decided to keep to ensure that Chiho learns from it.

Even as I watched, the occasional dumb fire missile and rotary cannon burst from the fighters did practically nothing to Beni, the only target they could reliably see from up there. On the other hand, the missiles and bullet barrages did add up to friendly fire body count when they missed though. That being said, now that I think about it, there really is very few things they could've brought in that could stop Beni with a Shock Charge shield of such magnitude. Large missiles and naval artillery from the ships offshore would definitely at least dispel her shield on direct hit if not more. However, that would involve them declaring the base hopelessly lost and level it themselves. I would be surprised if they actually decide to do it.

Anything else they had though was rather useless right now. Their helicopters - their best bet aside from what I mentioned before - were shot down by Uzume. Their tanks were literally stomped into the ground by the speedy, angry red ball of death. Their entrenched positions of machine gun towers, turrets and nests were either taken out by our resident archer or annoyed Beni enough for her to pay a brief visit. Beni really was an ideal distraction, I will agree with Chiho on that. Not only is she highly visible, she's also threatening enough for everyone to drop what they are doing and focus fire on her. She also was durable enough thanks to Shock Charge shield that no amount of small arms fire and small explosives such as grenades and RPGs would ever bring her down.

Suddenly, my Ill Intent sense kicked in and I twirled around, my swords glowing a faint blue as I stared into the twilight behind us. Something out there stared back at me maliciously, pale eyes reflecting the fire behind me. Whatever it was, it was fairly low as it's eyes were only at my waist level but it set off my Ill Intent sense like practically nothing else. Right now the most sincere wish of this thing was to rip me apart.

I frowned, while Chiho gasped, as more and more paired eyes began to appear in the foliage around us, skulking about in the twilight, circling around us slowly. Pack animals that is individually weak but strong in numbers? What were something like they doing here? Those same animals tended to stay the hell away from human conflict, there was also the point that as far as I knew there were no pack animals in Okinawa… Wait, didn't Aizen said that the warehouses were empty? Yet only a couple days ago a shipment came in…

Considering the issue that normal animals would flee from zones of conflict and generally didn't produce enough hatred to make me pause, I thought as I raised my blades to unleash a Gate:Nova if whatever is out there decides to attack, how can we be sure that this shipment contained Sekirei technology? After all, Umbrella is well known in certain circles for its biological weapons, both living and not. Another thing Umbrella is really well known for is for keeping the aforementioned fact that it does so under real tight wraps. So for an Umbrella cargo ship to just sail into an American port in broad daylight, especially so close to MBI territory right after an incident involving both parties… Now that I think about it, this was all a trap, wasn't it? As a low, hacking growl emanated from the creatures who held us in a circle, I realized that Umbrella had once again decided to combat test its creations, writing off all of the civilians and military personnel at this base. Hell, considering how close it was to a nearby city, this just might turn into Raccoon City version 2, a real horror from the few pieces I've read.

The only real question for me that remained was, how did Sekirei technology tie into this? Minaka seemed 100% certain that it was here, at this doomed base. Considering his determination, I can safely say there's at the very least something Sekirei related around here. Perhaps Umbrella brought in another of those 'Tyrant'-Sekirei things that Kara slaughtered back at that base?

"Duck!" I ordered Chiho as I spun on the spot, twin interloping circles of pale blue light coming into being around me, created as my blades whistled through the night air. Even as Chiho hit the ground, about a dozen of swift shadows charged out of the darkness, snarling in hateful challenge. Intense blue flame, bordering on white, blasted out to meet them, stopping their charge dead in its tracks. Quite a few of them quite frankly got turned dead as the nearest creatures caught the wave with their faces and the only things left were a charcoal charred skeletons that fell with a dry clack of the bones on the mossy grass. Now that the clearing was properly on fire from the residual flames, I could see my adversaries clearly.

I think these things used to be dogs at one point. Before Umbrella took them and decided that they clearly weren't meant to stay as just dogs. Heh, once they used to be simple dogs. Now though...Now I hacked through monsters that reached up to my waist in height and were easily longer than I was tall. That's on top of being incredibly swift, agile and really, really, really hard to kill. The fact that these bastards simply refused to die was quite frustrating. Aside from the 4 who were turned into blackened skeletons by Gate:Nova, the other 7 refused to go down from things that would kill any normal creature. It was like Umbrella forgot to pass them a memo that stated that accumulating holes and gashes in the body was detrimental for health. Their unnatural agility allowed them to warp their bodies around my blades, preventing said blades from causing any real injury such as hacking a limb off. I say real injury, because apparently missing half a flank is a mere inconvenience; as proven by one such monster that simply growled in frustration, bit off the guts that were hanging out and were getting in the way and then jumped at me once more.

Even as they came in and backed out much like waves, I spent the time studying their forms, the flickering orange flames about us helping far more than the moonlight of the waxing moon before. I wonder if these things are what Minaka meant when he said Sekirei technology. As I looked closer, I started to develop a theory on their monstrous durability. Not only were these creatures were hideously deformed, they were also cybernetically enhanced. I could seem patches of metal of their implants poke out from the diseased hide of these things as they glinted in the firelight.

Still, implants or not, these things shouldn't move with such speed, agility and, most importantly, skill. I've seen creatures like this back in Dai's complex. Although faster than their lumbering, misshapen brethren, they were far too slow to even compare to what I was now fighting. Also, unlike these cunning predators, the dogs in question were extremely stupid, always charging headfirst with only rudimentary instincts still somewhat intact.

"Shit!" I cursed as they leapt synchronously in such a way that I could get all of them. At the same time as I silently prayed to whatever gods sat upon the high heavens, I knocked those heading for Chiho out of the sky, my lack of time forcing me to only knock them away with superficial wounds rather than to strike them down while they can't dodge. Spinning around, not having the time to check on those I knocked back, I sliced an unlucky dog into 3 pieces and ended with my swords ready to receive yet another hound that face planted straight into them. Unfortunately, that left me completely vulnerable to the last monster that came in low. Just as the jumping dog skewered itself on my swords and died instantly, the attacker chomped down hard on my armoured leg.

Normally, I'd merely laugh at the thought of worrying about a dog biting through the armour that can withstand assault rifle bullets at point blank. Right now though, I'd be hard pressed to find anything normal or funny about the situation. I mean, that dog I sliced into 3 pieces was still moving its front paw – the only thing still attached to its head – as it futilely tried to get to me, a frustrated and angry growl rising from what was left of its lungs. Still, it was with a somewhat disbelieving expression on my face that I watched the dog began to crumple the armour at my left thigh, pain racing through my leg as it did. In one fluid, swift motion I drew my swords out of the dead dog hanging on them and stabbed one through the aggressor's temple while another severed the body from the head gnawing on my armour.

"Rei!" Chiho cried out in worry and shock, seeing me groan as I stood over her, favouring my left leg as it throbbed with dull pain. I hissed in irritated anger as I kept my eyes on the 3 remaining monsters – the growling head on the ground not counted. Right now, I couldn't even pry off the dead dog's head that was still latched onto my thigh. Hell, at this point, I was too wary to even glance that way as I watched the trio circle around me, waiting for an opportunity to pounce once more. As the seconds ticked away, I realized that I couldn't keep waiting. My team was out there and I, at the very least, needed to make sure they are all right and evacuate them if they aren't. Lovely, but how to emerge victorious from this situation so I could go help my friends? Hmm, I can't attack because that would leave Chiho vulnerable… Wait, they are waiting for me to make an opening due to the head still attached to my leg, right? Well then…


	57. Gate:Escalation

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Resident Evil (Biohazard) belongs to Shinji Mikami.

Note: Sorry about the delay, but I keep not finding time to do the Transfer (type/edit/review/upload) everything I've written in my notebooks. I mean, I doubt that you care that I have like 50k more words written then I have posted if I dont post what I write in the first place. Thankfully, today is a holiday here and I intend on Transferring as many chapters as I can today. Not that I'll actually publish them today, I'll publish them later but know that it'll be more regular than the crap happening right now.

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><p>"No! Rei!" Chiho yelped beneath me as I heavily fell to my knee, my left leg seemingly giving way. The hounds, sensing an opportunity, pounced like black shadows amidst the dancing flames of the burning forest. They dashed forward only to fall to pieces as they slammed face first into the rapidly fading lines of Gate:Open. I grinned victoriously as I heavily stood up, even the sharp tang of pain from my thigh unable to overcome my satisfaction from pulling off a perfect trap. Although my main way of killing my opponents is to slash them to bits with Gate:Open, it does have a passive effect that I rarely use due to lack of need. I mean, I hardly need anything but my actual strikes when fighting majority of my opponents and those that outclass me enough to not care about my Gate:Open empowered strikes don't particularly care about it's bonus ability, much like Kara keeps proving to me regularly. The gashes in reality that I rend take nearly half a second to close and until they do, they are just as dangerous as the actual blows I land. Much like these hounds proved, dashing face first into a closing rift the size of my blade's thickness is rather detrimental to the continuous integrity of said hounds. Meaning what landed in front of me were corpses that suddenly lacked entire strips of their bodies.<p>

After surveying the immediate area and finding it empty, I finally let Chiho get up and focused on the jaws of the head that was still clamping down hard on my left thigh. Deciding to go about this smartly, I sliced the head in 2 along the jaw line rather than to try and pry it off. Both Chiho and I stared at the mangled and bent piece of metal that was supposed to be my cuisses for my left thigh. Seriously, what the hell were these things to do twist armour grade metal like it was dough?

"A-are you okay?" My Ashikabi asked softly, worried concern in her voice as she watched me slowly poke around the twisted metal with a hint of a wince. Thankfully, the armour held but its warped state was certainly causing me no small amount of distress. Now that I removed the head, I could move once more and maybe even jog but any movement beyond that caused a great deal of pain as the metal dug in sharply into my thigh. This was quite worrisome as I still had to protect Chiho and I now I had doubts of doing so if I meet yet another pack of these creatures.

One of the things I loved about my armour was that it was solid, air tight. It wouldn't save me from gasses or from drowning due to lack of helmet, but because it was sealed so tight I didn't have to worry about blood seeping through my armour for instance. Or for pieces to come flying off when hit with sufficient force. Due to its arrangement and internal sealing mechanisms, it redistributed impact to the surrounding armour pieces which is one of the main reasons for it being bullet proof or so Dietrich explained to me all of those years ago. Similarly, if it wasn't for said features, I have no doubt that the dog would've simply ripped the armour piece off and then took another bite rather than keep gnawing at the resisting piece. I am not particularly happy with the fact that said armour piece is gnawed and twisted, but at least it's only greatly aggravating and not downright life-threatening which is what would've happened if the dog had a chance to bite my leg without armour.

Of course, having solid set of armour had its downsides too, I thought as I sat down on a pile of meat that used to be a dog in some distant past with Chiho bending over me in worry. For instance, it's solid composition and impact redistributing sealing system meant that if 1 piece got damaged, it would stay there with the rest of the suit. Meaning, that unless I wanted to take off all of my armour, I am stuck with practically no mobility in my left leg. I mean, I could still move and even jog, but sharp combat movements or running or even jumping would deteriorate my condition rapidly.

Thankfully, my purpose here isn't fighting, it's protecting Chiho. And considering what my ability is, we could always retreat if things go too far. I'd prefer not to, but if more of these things roam around… perhaps it's time to go check on our Debauchery Champions. If there's 3 of us, we can definitely protect Chiho. It would also be a good idea to go check in on them, I mean, Chiho can sense them and considering that she's currently making a fuss about my leg rather than about the duo… Still, although our Ashikabi is abnormally strong in the whole bond business, it should be a good idea to get going before something happens.

"Come on, we should go check on what's going on." I turned to my Ashikabi, startling her out of her morbid fascination with the still moving dog head. I also looked at the pieces around us with a frown. There was surprisingly very little blood. It was as if these creatures simply didn't have any blood to bleed but that's preposterous, right? All living things bleed and thus they can be killed. These things can be killed yet they do not bleed...are they alive? Tch, I'll have a philosophical discussion on this mess with myself some time later, right now we need to go. I stood up and made my way over to the snarling head, staring at it for a second. A second later I was staring at the impaled head in thought: how was it still functioning without a heart? The more I look at these monsters the more doubts I have about them being alive…

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><p>"They are alright." Chiho said slowly, her eyes gaining focus as we moved away from the burning clearing to somewhere we could see clearly. "Uzume and Haihane are mostly surprised but unworried while Benitsubasa is frustrated and angry."<p>

I paused and then turned back, towards the clearing, as something compelled me to do so. It wasn't the Ill Intent sense it was just a...feeling. I stared with surprise at a man in his prime who stood in the center of the vantage point we just vacated and calmly looked back at me. The man had blond hair, wore a long, black coat and...sunglasses.

I glanced upwards to see that it was in fact a waxing moon up in the sky, shinning down upon us in this twilight. So…who the hell wears sunglasses in this kind of environment where even we Sekirei had trouble seeing details?

"Is something wrong Rei?" Chiho distracted me from my musings and caused me to look at the anxious girl for a moment before I turned back to the mysterious blonde man wearing sunglasses.

"…No, it's nothing." I sighed and turned away from the empty burning clearing. "Let's go."

After a minute of walking fruitlessly, I rolled my eyes in exasperation, picked up my surprised Ashikabi and jumped up a big, thick tree. As hoped, I quickly found a decent branch near the top that could withstand our weight. My thigh throbbed in protest but I ignored it with practised ease, it was no different than all of the bruises and internal injuries I suffered from sparring with Kara and could thus be ignored for the moment.

"Th-that works, I guess." Chiho said with a shaky laugh as she lay in my arms, bridal style.

"Them again…" I looked at where my frowning Ashikabi was pointing and felt a frown of my own slide onto my face. The scene before us belonged to a horror action movie, or so I felt. Where before, civilians ran amok, the soldiers were content with shooting in the general direction of Sekirei and everywhere else while said Sekirei were quite content with slowly turning the base and it's defenders into Swiss cheese; with the introduction of Umbrella's experiments, the battle field changed dramatically. For one, the civilians quickly changed sides. Or rather, they were changed. It would seem that the dogs I fought went for the weak, pathetic and defenceless humans first. However, once dead, the humans quickly got right back up as shambling husks that chased anything not them with a lumbering, shaky gait and took quite a few bullets to get reconverted back into corpse state. It was interesting how the third side of this conflict used corpses to bolster its ranks with cannon fodder.

The soldiers quickly learned that going off alone was equivalent to being eaten alive and thus closed ranks around surviving tanks and APCs, shooting at everything in range. Although the monstrosities didn't seem to care about being hit by a bullet or 2, eating dozens at a time made them run off with their tails between their legs while they recovered and prowled around, looking for easier targets. Occasionally, 1 got focused down by several marines and had more holes than flesh in them but the majority of the damage came from the tanks and the liberal amount of explosives still being lobbed around. For a moment, a tentative equilibrium was reached where the hundreds of bullets and heavier stuff flying through the night air kept the snarling nightmarish dogs at bay but it didn't last.

Even as we got up on the tree and looked around, a roar shook the base and a second wave of Umbrella creations crashed upon the burning base from the treeline. Unlike the swift and agile dogs and the unfeeling but slow corpses, these mutated creatures towered above everything around, standing at 3 to 4 meters on average with metal plate armour that looked heavy and thick even from the distance. I bit my lip with a frown as I watched what used to be at one point bears charge. They were slow and not as agile as the dogs due to the armour but once they started charging, they were effectively a rhinoceros. I mean I just watched one of them smash into a tank and flip it over with such force that it flew through the air for a few meters before landing upside down. It also happened to completely ignore the streams of bullets heading its way from the soldiers who used the tank as a mobile defence position.

Thankfully, much like the dogs, these guys weren't particularly smart. In fact, unlike the cunning hounds, these armoured bears just charged and smashed, that was the entirety of their tactic. I actually giggled a bit in mirth when one of the bears thought it was a good idea to charge Beni and was promptly turned into red mist that was sprayed everywhere by my grinning student who didn't even break her stride. There were also plenty of cases where the stupid creatures charged headfirst into tanks that promptly blew them away with a tank shell to the face.

Truthfully, there were only 3 real reasons why the marines holding the desperate defence weren't completely overwhelmed. First was the overwhelming air support. Although missing the accurate fire from the helicopters and gunships, the multipurpose jets flying above were quite effective at dispersing the mobs that the shambling, reanimated corpses tended to gather into. They were also far more effective at hitting the giant mutant bears and downed quite a few with a skillful auto-cannon burst or a dumb fired missile. Second, was the speeding angry red ball of instant death that was Beni. Albeit she looked tired, even from here, from constantly keeping her Shock Charge up for a good 15 minutes now, she was grinning viciously now as she chased down the metal clad bears that were a lot slower and easier to catch than the faster dogs. Considering how frustrated she was by the uncatchable dogs, turning giant bears into red goo must be really therapeutic… provided they weren't charging away from her. I snickered as I watched Beni chase after a charging bear, swearing and screaming at it to stop as she did.

The third and biggest reason was without doubt, Uzume who was the greatest threat to the Umbrella creatures. Her supersonic lance-arrows were too fast to dodge for the dogs and carried more than enough force and piercing power to skewer the bears despite their thick armour. I could see her white lance-arrows litter the battlefield, the skewered targets nailed to the ground, trees or walls with them. Surprisingly, more often than not, said targets were still moving as they vainly tried to get free.

There was something unnatural and eerie about watching something that, by all rights, should be dead several times over struggle to get up and continue fighting. To watch them snarl in frustration and growl in pure hatred towards everything that wasn't them. Truly, these abominations had no right to taint this world with their presence. It was little surprise that the Disciplinary Squad and the soldiers defending the base stopped fighting each other and instead turned to attack the third side. True, an occasional bullet barrage or explosive hit the Red Sekirei as she rampaged through the ranks of Umbrella's creations, but considering that the humans long gave up any measure of accuracy and just filled the general area their target was in with lead and explosions I think we can dismiss the bit that goes our way as insubstantial.

I was actually intrigued just how many soldiers were on site. I mean, there were hundreds down on the ground fighting or shambling about as zombies but more and more seemed to arrive by the minute in APCs, tanks or even parachuted down. I know that the whole island could be considered 1 gigantic military complex but I don't think I actually realized what that meant until now. Sure, this base was laughably easy to get it and start thrashing but the fact that reinforcements arrive by the hundreds with heavy vehicles and air support within half an hour of the invasion was… Well, I began to feel a grudging amount of respect get born within me. The longer we fought the stronger and more powerful the human faction here got. Already they were starting to turn the tide on Umbrella creations as more and more tanks arrived to blast the armoured bears into red paste.

Kara really needs to get a move on, I thought as I cupped my chin with my gauntlet as I sat on the tree branch with Chiho on my lap. I know we are supposed to destroy any Sekirei technology that Umbrella brought it which implies all of their forces but this is getting ridiculous. We sure as hell didn't expect Umbrella to bring a veritable army to a knife fight. Hell, at this point we might as well-

"R-Rei…" Chiho asked in a dazed voice, tugging on my tabard. "Am I hallucinating or is that Cthulhu?"

I slowly raised my head and looked upon… Well, thank the gods that that is not Cthulhu. I could see why Chiho was practically having a heart attack though. I mean, it's not everyday we get to see what looks like a small skyscraper sized Kraken crawl out on the shore. Although I am not sure that Krakens have spiky carapace plating everywhere. It also seems to have a lot more spiky, armoured tentacles than any self-respecting non-hentai monster should have.

I watched the gargantuan monster rear up, bringing its sunken, horrifically disgusting face out of the mass of tentacles and emit an incredibly low sound that, much to our surprise, sounded like overwhelming static. I instantly clamped my gauntleted hands over my Ashikabi's ears even as I myself cringed and wavered from the audio attack. For a moment, both Humans and Sekirei alike dropped what they were doing and just stared at the beast that could be seen towering over trees even from this distance. We all just stood and stared as the thing issued its challenge to the world.

"R-right," I told Chiho in a shaky tone as I removed my hands from her ears, weathering the screech did not go well for me. "W-we are getting out of here, this mission is-"

A telephone call ringtone emitted from my suit, disrupting my words. After a brief pause to wonder who the hell could possibly be calling me right now, I answered the call hesitantly.

"Disciplinary Squad." Minaka's uncharacteristically serious tone came through the earing headset I wore. "Your orders are to destroy that thing using any method necessary. Destroy it and recover its Tama. Good luck."

"Rei…" Chiho looked at me with scared eyes, wrapping her arms around my armoured waist as she sat in my lap on the tree only a few kilometers away from the Cthulhu wannabe that the White Clown just ordered dead.

"I-it's fine." I tried to smile reassuringly, but the effects of weathering that thing's audio attack still showed as my voice shook. "W-we are the Disciplinary Squad after all. The moment we regroup, that thing won't stand a chance."

"…Alright." Chiho paused before answering me, looking with her serious brown eyes into my light blue ones. Then she got up to turn to the building from which white lance-arrows started to fly from again. "We need to find everyone else then. We'll need everyone for this."

I smiled at my serious Ashikabi, her metallic determination seeping into me through our bond, calming me down. I took a deep breath and stilled my body, still smiling gently at my Ashikabi who looked onwards, her back to me. With a startled squawk she half turned to glance at me as I hugged her tightly from behind. My-Our Chiho looked so cute when she was serious or worrying about us that I just couldn't resist.

"Don't worry." I whispered into her reddening ear. "We will not die. We'll stay here, with you, for you, forever and ever. Together, all of us."

"…Yea." Chiho wrapped her arms around my armoured ones, embarrassment quickly turning into love and happiness. I swam at ease in those emotions that flooded my Tama through our bond as we stood on the tree that gently swayed from the combat and destruction before us, content to forget about the current situation and just enjoy a moment of peace.

"I'll hold you to that." My smile widened as I leaned in and gave Chiho a light kiss on her cheek in response to her claim. The peaceful moment lost, I grabbed my Ashikabi into a ball and leaped off to run towards Uzume's sniping position. The ruined cuisses on my left thigh groaned in protest, pinching and rubbing my flesh and causing all sorts of woe and discomfort but I ignored it. It was manageable for now and I didn't particularly care that the area was practically a single huge bruise now; I had more important things to worry about. I needed to get to the rest of my team so they could help me protect our very vulnerable Ashikabi.

So I focused on the path before us, seeking a route through the mass-scale combat to get to one of the few buildings that still stood intact. While both Humans and Sekirei stood, transfixed by Cthulhu's wannabe's challenge to the world, the Umbrella abominations couldn't care less about taking a breather to admire one of their own. By the time the humans shook off their shock, they lost 3 full squads with supporting vehicles to the opportunistic monsters. Demoralized by what they just witnessed, Humans began to slowly retreat, pushed back by the Umbrella monsters, their previous gains lost in a matter of seconds.

As I jumped on and over an angry bear tearing an APC apart in a shriek of tormented metal, I was distracted by a series of massive explosions and a terrifyingly enraged screech. Turning my head aside for a moment, I watched as the Kraken got pelted by dozens of jets, who seemed quite happy finally find a target they could actually hit, and by what looked like the military ships that were docked at port, including the beach battery. However, that didn't stop the monster from drawing more of its massive self out of the water, wrench nearby trees and rocks out of the earth and toss the makeshift projectiles by the dozen at everything that annoyed it. Hardly effective against the jets who evaded them with lazy ease, but as I turned back to look at where I was running, I could see one of the bigger rocks smash into one of the ships, knocking it back. I doubt it sank as it looked quite big, but I bet a few more hits like that and Davy Jones will show up to escort the crew to the next great journey.

Still, the Humans bought us some time that we better use with maximum efficiency to prepare for the inevitable battle. I doubt they would last any decent amount of time, not against a mini skyscraper sized monster that seems to shrug off missiles like it was nothing, so as soon as we pick up Haihane, Uzume and Beni we need to get to the meeting point ASAP. I can only hope that Kara would be there with the Infiltrator duo as we'll need our captain if we want to fight something like that with no losses. I'd rather no risk it if what the White Clown claimed is true and that thing has a Tama. Who knows what sort of abilities it may manifest.


	58. Gate:Engagement

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Resident Evil (Biohazard) belongs to Shinji Mikami.

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><p>"Why do they do this…" Chiho muttered quietly, almost as if to herself. "This cruelty and mindless killing, what is this all for?"<p>

"It's Umbrella." I casually answered as I ran, voicing the only explanation I had.

I was almost at the fairly tall building from which white lance-arrows shocked their way across the smoke filled air with fire more than the moon illuminating the hellish battlefield now. Almost wasn't quite what I needed though and I swore as a pack of misshapen dogs and a pair of armoured bears turned my way after they finished off a ruined APC turned human last stand. I think I've lost count how many times I've wished that I could just shift into Spirit Realm with Chiho and just not care about avoiding all of the fighters we've encountered on our way to Uzume's and Haihane's building. The fact that I had to maneuver sharply a few times to avoid entering combat with persistent bastards was not cool as my thigh reminded me with slow, painful throbs. Still, I can't leave the Living Realm yet as Chiho is needed here so there's little I can do but slow down and draw my blade, my left arm holding my precious Ashikabi closer to my body.

However, before I could finish drawing my sword with my available hand, I was pleasantly surprised by a flash of white. It would seem that Uzume and Haihane tracked our progress across the chaotic 3-way battlefield and now that we were here, they dashed over to help. The dogs only had the time to twitch, guided by instincts, before 3 of them fell. One nailed to the ground by a snow white silk lance white the other 2 dogs who prowled side by side were turned into freshly minced meat by the descending Haihane. One of the bears immediately turned to Uzume, who was slowly descending down the side of the building even as she drew another arrow, and roared a primal challenge. The roar was instantly cut off though as Uzume promptly sent the just created lance-arrow down the monster's throat, silencing it permanently.

Meeting my teammates turned family with a happy smile, I prepared to navigate past the unfolding skirmish when the final member of the Distraction Team arrived. With a furious battle cry Beni leaped at the final bear creature, her fist consuming the Shock Charge shell to deal, quite frankly, ludicrous damage. The bear only had the time to turn to it's challenger before the insanely overpowered strike reached its body. I suppressed the urge to whistle in awe as I watched the monster not just get turned into fine red mist, but that mist also blew outwards like pellets of a shotgun, accelerated to such a degree that the 2 dogs in its way suddenly had more holes in them then a cheese grater. Several trees also met the same fate and collapsed as their shredded trunks were unable to support their own weight anymore.

"That was-" I cut myself off and dashed over when Beni swayed and collapsed, as if her legs got turned into jelly, face first into the scarred and bloody ground. "Are you okay?"

"...Yea…" A muffled, dead tired voice made both me and Chiho who I still clutched to my chest breathe a sigh of relief. "Just… give me some time. This is the longest Shock Charge I've Ever run…"

Both Chiho and I laughed lightly in relief at her exasperated yet dead tired, muffled voice as she didn't even bother lifting her face from the torn grass to speak. By the time we stopped laughing, Haihane and Uzume finished off the few dogs that vainly tried to flee and joined us.

"We should leave." Uzume said with a frown as her eyes roved over the raging battle and stopped on the monstrosity having fun at throwing rocks and logs around at the beach.

"Yea, the humans got this." Haihane said snidely. "They keep getting more bodies and vehicles. They'll just bury these things with their own corpses."

"To be fair," I frowned as I looked at my squad, it wouldn't do for them to get arrogant. "They are fighting an enemy they know nothing about in possibly the worst environment possible for them. The Umbrella fiends have the upper hand here. Thankfully, there isn't enough of them to overrun the heavy military presence on this island."

An incredibly loud scream of metal punctured through my final words. We all turned around to watch the tentacle monster cosplaying as Cthulhu grab onto a human ship – a cruiser I think? – and tear it apart with seemingly no effort. The thing even brought the pices to it's hideous mouth but a volley of rockets from reinforcing attack helicopters made it screech in angered pain and throw the twisted remains of what used to be a ship seconds ago at the newly arrived threat.

"Uh…Rei?" Uzume shivered as she saw the monster start throwing rocks and everything else under it's grasp at the helicopter with no visible injuries from the rocket barrage. "Please don't tell me we have to fight a tentacle monster. I've seen enough hentai to know what happens when a bunch of girls fight a tentacle monster."

"Minaka called." I replied with a sigh, watching Uzume visibly wilt at the words. "Said that that monster has a Tama he'd like for us to retrieve."

"A…Tama…" Beni found the strength to lift her face from the shredded grass. "Seriously? Like that thing Karasuba killed in the labs?"

We all looked at the monster throwing huge rocks and century old trees at the desperately evading helicopters by the dozen. Occasionally 1 or 2 managed to let off a missile or few but it did nothing save for piss the creature off even more and force the helicopter pilots to pull off some rather spectacular moves to dodge.

"I think this one is a bit bigger…And more dangerous." Haihane deadpanned as another chopper exploded in midair, unable to survive a tree several times its size that hit it dead on. Beni merely flopped back on the ground and moaned something unintelligible, drawing smiles from us.

"Uh guys." Uzume frowned before letting loose a lance-arrow into the darkness, yips of pain signalling that she hit something. "Can we talk on the move? The humans are pulling out to regroup, we should too."

We glanced around to see the humans retreating in a most orderly fashion, meaning that they simply bathed everything in front of them in ordinance to prevent their soldiers from getting shredded as they ran behind the armoured front line. The Umbrella creations still picked off an occasional squad but more and more were beginning to turn our way after catching several dozen of metal parting gifts from the humans.

"You're right, let's move out." I grabbed Beni and started to move, both of my hands now filled with precious cargo. "To the meeting point."

"I can take Chiho you know." Uzume called as she easily caught up and pointed one of her veils at Chiho who sat on my right arm, with my Ashikabi's arms around my neck to ease up my journey. Beni was currently sleepily blinking as she half laid on my chest, my left arm holding her securely.

"My mobility is compromised anyway." I stated simply, as we both glanced at the mangled cuisses on my left thigh. "It's best if I carry them while you escort us."

Uzume nodded in acknowledgement and carried on, another lance-arrow streaking through the twilight air to nail one of the dogs to a tree. We ran through the dark woods, Haihane and Uzume obliterating anything that had the misfortune of being in our way. I did my best to ignore the ever growing painful throbbing of my thigh but it showed in our gradually slowing pace. Even at my best, I'd be really hard pressed to even keep up with the agile archer and the far swifter assassin, but now I was merely slowing them down. Sure, I was currently busy carefully carrying my younger sister and my Ashikabi through the twilight forest, making sure to make them as comfortable and safe as possible. But it doesn't stop the fact that my thigh was starting to hurt more than I was able to suppress. It doesn't look like I'll be joining them in fighting that Kraken thing after all, not unless I want to be deadweight. The pain was negligible when I was standing or walking but with each step I ran, it grew…

"It's about time someone showed up." We were greeted by a grumbling Aizen who appeared out of the shadows where he stood, invisible. "What's going on? Why is there still shooting and explosions going off? Who's fighting?"

"Oh, hello Aizen!" Chiho broken her circle of hands around my neck to wave at her fellow Ashikabi. "Umbrella unleashed an army of monsters so that's who the military are fighting right now."

"Damn it," Aizen bit his thumbnail in exasperated frustration. "They just had to take them for a walk today of all times so I couldn't blow them up."

"This is no coincidental 'walk', boy." We all turned to see Kara walk out of the darkness, one arm supporting a limping Saki while another held her bloodied nodachi at the ready. "They knew we were coming."

"Saki!" Aizen dashed over to his Sekirei who looked pale even under the moonlight. "What happened to you?"

"A-Aizen!" Saki opened her eyes with an effort and hugged the stuffing out of her Ashikabi. "You're alright!"

"Of course I am," Aizen patted his Sekirei on her back soothingly. "You made me invisible after all."

"Yea, see, that's the problem." Kara drawled as she stepped aside from the hugging couple. "Her power doesn't work on those dogs; they can still find her somehow. Almost bit her leg off in fact."

"Your leg!" The boy instantly knelt down and surveyed the torn and frayed black pants his Sekirei wore to the mission. Her left leg was bloody but well bandaged, Kara's work no doubt.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Kara said impatiently. "More importantly, what's going on, I couldn't get to you as both of our radios are down."

"Well, there is a bit of a complication." I started and then looked upwards as a wing of jets flew low overhead, missiles streaming to the monster we couldn't see but I knew was still there. "Minaka called."

"And?" Kara stared at me intently.

"Umbrella has a monster the size of a mini-skyscraper or a very large building on the beach." I explained as Uzume re-bandaged Saki's wound after administering a few medications from Beni's first aid kit. "It's currently being occupied by human aircraft and ships, but not for long I fear. Anyway, Minaka wants it's Tama."

"Tama?" Kara, Saki and Aizen chorused in surprise.

"How?" Aizen asked, his eyes wider than normal from shock.

"But Tama are only for Sekirei!" Saki protested in disbelief.

"Oh? Is it like the one I killed before?" Kara reigned in her emotions and only let an eager bloodthirsty grin be visible on her face now.

"We'll explain later to you 2." Haihane frowned at our allies.

"No this one is a bit bigger-" I started only to be interrupted by Chiho.

"A bit bigger!?" The girl exclaimed. "That tentacle monstrosity is at the very least the size of a 30 story building!"

"That is in fact 'a bit bigger'." Kara smirked and licked her lips eagerly.

"Yes, so we were waiting on you so that we can go out there and kick its ass." I nodded. "So far we haven't seen it use any Sekirei abilities so it may just be an Enhancement type."

"Perhaps." Kara nodded and quickly glanced over us, her gaze slowing down for a second as she eyed my twisted armour and how I favoured my injured leg. "You're not going anywhere though, Rei."

"Someone must protect the Ashikabi as well as Benitsubasa and Saki." Kara continued, my completely unsurprised expression making her smile lightly. "I'll take that thing on with Haihane and Uzume as backup, just in case."

"But I must be close!" Chiho stared up at Kara. "I need to be close to offer you help if or when you need it!"

"That's actually a valid point." Haihane mused out loud as Uzume frowned while Kara merely stared at our Ashikabi motionlessly.

"Very well." Kara suddenly said as she turned and began to walk towards the beach from where sounds of combat could still be heard.

While Uzume and Haihane scrambled to follow our Captain, I hanged back, waiting for Aizen to pick up his injured Sekirei via a piggyback. I was quite surprised to see the young teen actually pull it off, more so when he did it with practised ease. As he quickly followed the path the trio ahead walked, I came in last with the two girls still in my arms.

* * *

><p>"That-" Kara pointed her sword at the Kraken like monster that was currently lobbing gigantic balls of water at the hastily retreating helicopters under the moonlight. "Is not an Enhancement type."<p>

We stood at the edge of the forest, a couple meters more and then sand began. Only a kilometer or so down the beach, the Cthulhu wannabe was finishing up demolishing the beachside battery via huge amounts of water, specifically the water cannon balls. It was now starting to pull itself further out of the water by grabbing onto the trees for leverage. It would seem that the human military gave up fighting the seemingly invulnerable monster and instead withdrew the moment it started to destroy their fortifications. Or maybe they decided that the other Umbrella forces that were currently fighting in the forest were more important. Without Uzume knocking their helicopter gunships out of the skies like piñatas, those mobile gun platforms would really help their ground forces.

Regardless of their plans, the effect was such that the gargantuan monster was now free to pull itself onto land, ignoring the several jets that flew around it, keeping an eye on the thing. The jets also occasionally rotated as the old ones ran out of fuel and the new ones glided in to patrol. I was actually quite impressed by the amount of aircraft the Americans had in Okinawa. I mean, sure I understood that the Americans wanted Japan to store their missiles and aircraft but I never really grasped just how many there were… Regardless, what this really meant for us is that no humans would get in our way on ground as Kara, Uzume and Haihane assault the overgrown squid.

"Stay here." Kara ordered across her shoulder as she turned her head to look at me.

"Let's go." She turned back to the unsuspecting creature and began to walk confidently towards it, miasma slowly enveloping both her body and her sword. Haihane instantly followed up behind her teacher while Uzume turned to ruffle Chiho's hair with a sly smile before jogging off to catch to her fellow Sekirei.

"Good luck!" Chiho called out belatedly, distracted by getting her long hair out of her eyes. The trio didn't answer, only Kara raised her miasma enveloped hand and waved lazily, as if shooing her away. Smirking at my Ashikabi's pout, I set them down beside Saki who Aizen set to sit against a massive tree that stood on the edge of beach. He was already fussing over her, drawing a cute smile from his battered Sekirei. Chiho, after taking a glance at her Sekirei still on approach, also joined Aizen in talking with Saki, interested in knowing what happened. I, in the meanwhile, set Beni on the moss surrounding the tree and smiled as she curled up like a cat, still sleeping. She fell asleep, dead tired, sometime as we made our way here. My cute little sister did her job well today so it's totally fine for her to rest now. I wrapped my haori around Beni and tucked her in.

We all stopped what we were doing and turned when an angry, pained roar shook the entire beach, ruffling the leaves in the forest. We looked on as the 3 Sekirei took on a monster larger than most buildings save for skyscrapers. So far, only Uzume was fighting it as she opened fire from her superior range. After losing a couple eyes, the monster quickly learned that unless it wants to lose more, it should cover them. Devoid of her preferred target, Uzume started to fire at its head, her lance-arrows biting deep through the monstrous carapace. The Umbrella's creation on the other hand was effectively blind as it tried to hit Uzume, who kept moving for better angles, wildly with everything it had. The blind flailing did absolutely nothing to the agile archer who moved on her 4 silk limbs gracefully through the water balls, tentacles and thrown debris with ease. A balance of sorts was established for a few seconds where Uzume's arrows didn't deal enough damage to the overgrown squid and said squid couldn't hit the agonizingly annoying spider that kept poking at it.

About 10 or so seconds later, that balance was smashed apart as Kara and Haihane joined the fray. The Blue Sekirei jumped on a tentacle and used her wind enhanced speed to maneuver through any attempt to knock her off as she made her way to the main body. Occasionally she jumped from 1 tendril to another as she gave up cutting the tentacles that came her way after we all watched the thing regenerate the damage completely in seconds. Hmm, this will be a difficult fight as neither Haihane nor Uzume can go through that regeneration. Perhaps if Uzume used her Norito, the giant silk spider could possibly defeat the equally giant Cthulhu wannabe but it's debatable as that thing really does have a Lot of tentacles. Haihane's Norito wouldn't help the situation at all as she was fast enough to evade all of her opponent's attempts to get her off as she were. Considering Haihane's Norito only boosted her speed to ridiculous levels it was hardly useful here. Kind of wish we had Homura here, his hungry fire would make short work of this overgrown squid. Mmm…roast squid… Although it's not really a squid considering it's a Kraken… Mmm…roast Kraken…

"Woah…" Aizen said as he stared with wide eyes as the Kraken I was imagining roasted reared back with an agonizing screech, withdrawing all of its many tentacles as far away from Kara as possible. One of its tentacles was slowly dissolving from Kara's miasma empowered strike, the regeneration not being able to do more than slow down the disintegrating effect of Kara's evil ability. Huh, it looks like this might be easier than I thought if Kara's strikes prevented regeneration. Well, nothing to do but sit back, relax and watch Kara disembowel the thing.

Except no not really, I had to keep an eye on the surroundings I reminded myself as I glanced back before turning to watch the fight again. On the second hand, I can just use my Ill Will sense, right?


	59. Gate:Parley

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Resident Evil (Biohazard) belongs to Shinji Mikami.

Note: TLDR: Skip the below and read the story.

Note: So sorry about the delay, but I have a reaaaaaaally hard time finding any time to do Transfer. It's funny, cause, no matter how busy I am, whenever I have a spare minute or 15, I take out the small black book I carry with me everywhere and write a paragraph or a page of this story. Yet, after I come home from work, I mostly crash, chase a few barbarian hordes in Attilla and then sleep. That and the whole 'Transfer' mechanism is long and quite frankly boring compared to writing the story. I mean, all I do is format, error-check, edit in missing scenes/sentences occasionally and thats about it. Oh and post it here afterwards.

The most difficult one would, quite frankly, be the formating. You may have noticed a few cliff-hangers in the last few chapters. Fear not, many more are inbound. A side effect of me writing the whole Act first and then having to divide it into chapters.

Note: To my Reviewers. Thank ya very much for that fluffy feeling that your reviews give me, it's quite nice. It's also nice to see some of you pick up the references I keep dropping all over the place. Some of them may very well come back later much like the couple in this chapter.

To Kyranol1 specifically: I must say, your style of review is quite... interesting. I quite like it actually, it's fascinating to see how you follow the story and what you write at the end of each chapter. All in all, keep at it man, it's fun reading your comments. That being said, thanks to you I am reaaaaally considering adding a disclaimer in chapter 1 stating: "Warning: Do not read comments for Spoilers are on the prowl."

* * *

><p>We all stared with wide eyes as the Kraken thing tried to back away from the Black Sekirei, trying hard to get away from one who hurt it so. Kara would have none of her opponent trying to flee the fight however and swung hard at the retreating monster. A sickly gray sickle shaped line, only just visible under the moon's light, tore through the night air in a heartbeat and sliced thought 3 more tentacles that the creature tried to shield itself with. Another static filled screech rent the night sky as those tentacles began to wither too.<p>

"What a dangerous ability." A smug yet slightly concerned voice took me by surprise as I spun about, my swords already leaving their sheaths and glowing blue.

"You…" I muttered as I stared at the blond guy wearing sunglasses, the same one as the one back at the site where I fought that pack of dog things. Now that he stood only 3 or so meters away, I could see him clearly. He was quite tall, only a little below me in height, with neatly swept back short blond hair. I couldn't see his eyes behind the glasses but his features were European…Aryan I think, is the word. Dressed in an open black leather trench coat that he wore over an equally black dress pants and shirt, the man looked positively out of place here. He wouldn't be out of place in some high profile corporation but not standing in the woods bordering a beach with a massive scale combat going on only a couple kilometers or so away where the army valiantly fought against…

"How awfully bold of an Umbrella Operative to approach the Disciplinary Squad." I said casually, ignoring the gasps of those behind me. "Why are you here?"

"A…Operative?" The man drawled with a condescending smirk, the word 'mere' clearly there yet unspoken. "Hmm, perhaps. As for why I am here, well, I would have thought it would be obvious."

"I can hardly afford to miss such a grand finale." The man grinned a wicked smile that wouldn't look out of place on Kara's features as he turned to watch the battle.

"So you've come to watch the end with your worst enemy right beside you." I let my eyebrows rise in a statement of surprise. "Hardly a logical decision."

"On the contrary," The man smirked once more, answering me with his self-righteous tone. "I believe it is perfectly logical, considering the circumstances."

I took a couple steps back, closer to the tree and my charges, as I felt intense hatred and desire to maim and kill emanate from the forest. Dozens of hateful pale eyes lit up the forest twilight all around.

"As you can see," The man drawled, still smirking. "I have nothing to fear. The moment you attack is the moment all of these hounds protecting me will charge you."

"I see." I let the tips of my swords down, the glow receding into the metal. "I am Lieutenant Rei of the Sekirei Disciplinary Squad. Who are you?"

"A pleasure to meet you, Sekirei Rei." The thin smile that danced across his handsome features made it hard to tell if he was serious or mocking. "You can call me Wesker."

"Why do all of this?" Chiho got up and now stood by my side, staring at Wesker intently. "Why does Umbrella experiment on people, torture them? What's the point?"

Wesker didn't say anything for a while, merely looking at the fight behind me. The enraged screeches and pain filled moans that we could hear told me that the Kraken thing wasn't doing too well.

"Humanity is such a fragile, weak and pathetic race, wouldn't you agree?" He finally answered but turned to me instead of Chiho. "Sinful and evil, a terrible blight upon this world. They kill, destroy and maim on a whim. Even their creations are almost always for their own selfish reasons."

"If this continues on," Wesker turned his head and frowned at Chiho. "Both Earth and Humankind will be destroyed."

"I don't see how what you are doing is helping." Aizen rolled his eyes. "Quite the opposite. In fact, I can easily call you a hypocrite."

"Perhaps I am a hypocrite. But at least I am trying to do something about this whole situation." Wesker adjusted his glasses with a faint smile. "Umbrella is merely a means for the end for us. Give a couple scraps off the table with a promise for more and the mongrels that believe they rule the world with money will come to you, licking your palm, begging for more. Even the name itself we left as a hint and yet no one understood it. Truly, pathetic."

"Then what are you trying to do?" I suppressed the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose as things started to get complicated.

"Humanity as it stands now, is a disease on the path of self-destruction. A virus that only seeks to replicate itself, not caring about the damage it causes to its host." Wesker stated somberly, abandoning his smile. "Humankind has always evolved slowly, yet the technological outburst of the past couple centuries had upset the balance between the evolution of mind, soul and body. Humanity needs to evolve – or die."

"So you are trying to find a way to evolve everyone?" Chiho frowned. "But why the sick experiments, the monsters? Is there no other way?"

"They are merely by-products of unsuccessful, failed experiments, nothing more." Wesker wrote off her concerns nonchalantly. "At first our work was more theoretical rather than practical, but we soon realized that we were rapidly running out of time. Things had to be…sped up."

"But our tests with the 'Progenitor' virus that showed so much promise failed rather spectacularly in what is now known as the Raccoon City Incident." Wesker looked up towards the moon hanging above us. "For a time we thought our case was lost and extinction was inevitable… Until Minaka found you."

"What are you – " Saki called out in disbelief.

"The Sekirei species are Mankind's one last chance to become something more than a parasite that greedily devours its host whole, not caring about what will happen after." The blond man turned to us once more, his face deadly serious under the moonlight. "The Sekirei, alien yet so closely resembling humans that even viable offspring can be created. Powers that go beyond the Natural Laws of the universe and bodies that are practically immune to any and all sickness. Even the Progenitor virus and its derivatives hold no sway over you, as your bitten friend here can attest to."

"What?" Aizen instantly turned to Saki, turning white. "Saki is infected?"

"No, have you been listening?" Wesker scoffed. "The Sekirei immune system washes everything foreign out, be it common bacteria or weapon-grade virus. I have heard that the Sekirei Tyrant took such incredible effort to create that it would have forever remained a simple proof of concept, had you not killed it. However, all of this is ultimately irrelevant compared to the Sekirei-Ashikabi Bond concept. A mental bond that ties a human and a Sekirei more tightly than anything physical is a very intriguing thing. It is truly a pity that the Sekirei we managed to grow were lost after you, the Disciplinary Squad, were aggravated by a few greedy imbeciles on the council."

"Your research into that field was quite fascinating and incredibly valuable." I admitted casually. "We were especially impressed by how you created artificial Tama. Don't worry; we took your research for ourselves before blowing the complex sky-high."

"Truly a pity we had to meet under such undesirable circumstances." Wesker sighed as he looked on at the fight that was still raging on behind me. Although from the sounds, it would seem that the trio are almost done as the monster's cries started to get more and more pitiful. "Had we met in more favourable conditions, I am sure Umbrella, that is the Core of Umbrella, would have gotten on perfectly fine with the Sekirei race."

"Alas, the White Clown found us first." I twisted my lips into an unhappy smile. "And he doesn't seem to like Umbrella much, be it this 'council' you speak of or this 'core' you hint at representing."

"Minaka is neither eternal nor immortal." Wesker turned back to us, looking at Chiho specifically. "We know something big is going on in that city. We know Sekirei are dying there. Unless we are mistaken, sooner or later, Minaka will answer for it to the Disciplinary Squad."

"Perhaps," Aizen frowned. "But that doesn't mean that the Sekirei would run happily into Umbrella's open arms afterwards."

Chiho closed her mouth as she was interrupted by the young boy. Seems that she saw his point too.

"Of course we do not expect anything so major right away." Wesker laughed softly. "However, the end of hostilities between our factions will eventually lead to us talking and after that, who knows; perhaps we will come to a more 'solid' agreement."

"Regardless, I am here to declare that Umbrella shall trouble you no more…for now." Wesker continued before we could comment on his last words. "I do hope that you shall see me as an Emissary the next time we meet. And so, I bid you all farewell."

"Wai-t…" Chiho rose up to say something only to trail off as we all stared in surprise as Wesker suddenly disappeared into the forest, showing speeds comparable to that of Haihane. Even I was astonished. Such speed was simply inhuman. Specialists may be incredible and seemingly superhuman, but at the end of the day they were still human. What Wesker showed was straight up impossible for a human to accomplish. He managed to blur for a moment even for me! I bet Chiho and Aizen only saw a faint blur or he may have even just simply vanished for their eyes. Still...how could…

I came back to reality with a startle as growls erupted from the nearby woods. How could I just forget about the pack that Wesker brought? Cursing softly, I took a stance and prepared to fight off the incoming charge. Yet...none came. Before my highly surprised self, the hounds, as Wesker called them, gave several angry growls at us and then left, fading into the dark woods. Huh, it would seem that Wesker was telling the truth, I paused for a moment before sheathing my swords and, for the first time, looked at the now quiet battlefield that was behind my back.

Unsurprisingly, the monster was nothing more than a huge pile of meat, guts and gore that was strewn for hundreds of meters while the water at the beach was pitch black even under the moonlight from all the blood that it now held. It would seem that, due to it's enormous size, the trio that fought it had to literally dismantle it piece by piece till it died. Even though the beach was now full of blood filled craters with random boulders and uprooted trees everywhere, the Sekirei that fought the monstrosity stood upon the biggest piece of it's dismantled carcass completely unharmed. At least, so it looked like from here, I do hope that it is so. Interestingly enough, the victors stood, surprise and interest in their poses as they looked at something in or on the monster's body. In fact, as if noting our gazes on them, Kara turned around to face us and waved with her sword, beckoning us to come closer.

Thankfully, the short rest allowed Saki to stand up and walk on her own - a feat she insisted on, blushing heavily even as her Ashikabi pouted at 'not being able to feel the incredible body of his Sekirei lying atop his'. It would seem that Aizen loved turning his Sekirei into an embarrassed and tomato red wreck as she stuttered that such behaviour was completely inappropriate outside of their private bedroom. I grinned at Chiho who walked beside me as I carried my sleeping younger sister. Our Ashikabi looked at Saki with deep understanding and even hugged her briefly, driving her into deeper shades of red, as Chiho told the taller girl to hang on as she wasn't alone in having to resist attempts of debauchery. I laughed softly at the glance the confused Sekirei sent my way.

"Up here Rei." The moment we got close enough to the corpse through the blood and meat filled sand for the carcass to start blocking out the star filled night sky, Kara called me over, still staring intensively at something either on or inside the body she stood upon. Interested in figuring out just what puzzled the trio that took down the leviathan, I picked up the pace and quickly jumped my way up the tall creature. Haihane shifted slightly, opening up a space for me to occupy as I briskly crossed the remaining meters that separated me from them.

"Is that - ?" My breath caught up in my throat the moment I stopped beside Kara and Haihane, nearly dropping the small girl I carried from shock.

"No, it's not." All 3 of us turned to Kara, our gazes inquisitive. "A Tama is yellow in color and can eventually turn green as it gains more power but this...this is not a Tama."

We all looked back at what her finger pointed at to once more stare at the gigantic red sphere in wonder. The thing was buried deep in the core of the Cthulhu wannabe and I am guessing it was Kara that landed the blow that created a crater deeper then I was tall at the very bottom of which the top hemisphere of the orb lay. From the little of the orb we could see, it's diameter was quite likely to be greater than twice my height and I was just slightly over 2 meters tall after all…

"How the hell do we transport this thing?!" I exclaimed deciding to not bother figuring out just what the hell this orb was. I trusted the elder Sekirei with knowing what she was talking about and anyway, it makes a lot more sense to let scientists like Akitsu, Takami and Takehito to figure out what this big ball was. I'll just ask them later about it. So instead I concentrated on the more pressing issues like getting this baffling object to our science-savvy friends in the first place.

"Really?" Uzume looked at me incredulously. "We are taking this with us? Shouldn't we break it or something?"

"No." Kara replied simply and then jumped down, landing on the sphere as she readied her blade. "This thing caused me enough trouble that I am now interested in knowing what the hell did we kill."

"Uzume should carry it." Haihane suggested to her teacher who was carefully corroding the flesh around the orb away. "Wrap it up in her silk and drag it around or something."

"Of course it would be me." Uzume sighed theatrically even as she glanced at my thigh and Beni's still sleeping form in my arms. "Why couldn't one of you all have an ability that could be useful here…"

As Uzume whined and Haihane snickered, Kara ignored them all while I nodded in thought. Haihane's proposal was certainly the best suggestion in this situation. Considering Saki, Beni and I are all indisposed for various reasons, this leaves Kara, Haihane and Uzume as the only viable options to transport the orb that Kara was currently excavating. Honestly, Uzume stands as the best choice because of her threads. She could probably wrap the orb up and drag it with her threads. Haihane, even though she was an Enhancement type, was mostly focused on her agility and speed rather than strength. Kara could certainly do it, but I am willing to bet that the thought of making her carry it is the last one on all of our minds. Mostly because Kara is the most powerful one here and if shit goes down, it would really suck if Kara was unable to react because she was carrying something. So yea, getting Uzume to carry it is probably the best solution to this.

Done with that train of thought, I decided to simply keep watching Kara gently free up the orb, carefully dissolving the flesh and bone alike around it with ease. As time passed, I couldn't help but grin as Uzume's muttered swearing became louder and louder. I couldn't blame her because the orb that Kara was excavating was truly fitting for the monstrosity it was buried in. Now that we could see the opaque red ball clearly, I estimated that it's diameter was around 5 or so meters, making me quite thankful that I wont be the one carrying it.

"Can't we just call our ride over here and pick it up?" Uzume looked at us with the eyes of a kicked puppy. When both Kara and I pointed synchronously at the star filled sky above silently, Uzume looked up at the circling jets much like a devout exorcist would look upon a taunting, foul demon just out of their reach.

"Perhaps if you had better aim…" Haihane snickered as she rubbed it in to Uzume who adopted a face like she just ate a bucket of particularly fresh and quite sour lemons.

"Can you guys hear us?!" We all turned in the direction I left Saki, Aizen and Chiho in. "What are you doing up there?"

I resisted the urge to facepalm as I remembered that with Saki injured, there's no way they could climb up here. Instead I lowered Beni on a fairly intact patch of the monster's scaly skin and dashed over to serve as a lift to the trio stranded below. I also pointedly ignored Chiho's huff, Saki's silent disapproval and Aizen's knowing smile. They at least saw part of the battle as they occasionally glanced over at especially loud moments. I had to stay on guard to watch Wesker and the hound pack he had with him so i think it's excusable that I sprinted over to check on Kara and the other two as soon as I got a chance…

"Is that-?"

"No." Haihane, Uzume and I chorused as we answered Chiho's question as she stared at the nigh excavated orb with eyes wide from surprise.

"Then what is it?" Aizen half-asked, half-demanded, staring at us inquisitively.

"We don't know." Haihane shrugged casually making Aizen somehow manage to stumble even though he was standing still.

"We need to take it to MBI so the people who know their stuff can tell us what it is." I added evasively, glancing over to the pit that Kara worked in. I did it just in time to see the orb fall to it's side with a dull thud that shook the entire body, the surrounding supporting flesh and bones reduced to such a degree that they couldn't hold the gigantic marble in place anymore. Kara swiftly hacked off the few that remained and gave the big red ball an experimental shove. The ball twitched but otherwise remained still. Considering the fact that Kara's strength is quite impressive, she is an Enhancement squared after all, Uzume is in for loooong journey if all Kara could do was nudge the ball slightly.

Uzume stared at the ball, then at the expectant Kara then back at the ball with a resigned sigh. Two strands of silk appeared out of thin air and swiftly packaged our hard won cargo into a spherical cocoon. Next, 4 more strands came to life and buried deep into the corpse, drilling through dead flesh with ease. Before we could ask what that was for the strands strained and the package began to roll up the crater wall, pulled up somehow. Within a minute it was out of its dead host and laying before us, silky strands holding it in place. Not missing a heartbeat, Uzume jumped on top of it and withdrew all strands only to reform them as 6 legs beneath the giant orb. After taking a couple experimental steps with her construct, it's sharp legs digging into the corpse to provide support, Uzume turned to us.

"Ready to go?" She asked with a sly grin.


	60. Gate:Evacuation

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Resident Evil (Biohazard) belongs to Shinji Mikami.

Note: I amma say that this chapter is brought to you by the reviewers who inspired me to sit down and actually Transfer this chapter. /shudder. I hate Transfer...

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><p>"Catch." Was Kara's reply and Uzume's eyes grew huge as she caught Chiho who shrieked from surprise. "Haihane grab the kid, everyone else keep up."<p>

With those words she grabbed a shocked Saki and swiftly made her way off the monstrous carcass and to the forest, apparently eager to get to the extraction point with haste. I swiftly followed, pausing only to pick up Beni even as Haihane dashed by, Aizen already slung across her shoulder. Behind me, I heard a groan and a skitter of many legs coming to motion. Even as I landed on the soft sand, the makeshift spidery construct landed heavily behind me, it's legs modifying on the go to prevent it from sinking into sand with each step.

This set off the most bizarre race I've ever participated in. Kara was in the lead, effortlessly and seamlessly jumping from one tree to another, Saki curled up in a ball in her arms. Slightly behind her was Haihane with a knocked out Aizen hanging off her shoulder. The kid really should've kept his hands to himself even if his position gave him a close-up front seat view of the Blue Sekirei's rather shapely behind. Lagging in the back was me, with my bruised thigh, and Uzume who had to constantly seek better paths with her giant spider construct through the forest, avoiding trees and thick bushes. Amusingly enough, Chiho's gleeful cries and thrilled whoops told us all that our Ashikabi decided to treat this like a glorified joyride. Speaking of which, we should really get out and go to an amusement park sometime, from what Uzume told me, the last time she was in one it was before her parents died. So… 6 or so years ago? Definitely something to do in near future.

The fact that I've never been to an amusement park was, of course, entirely irrelevant. I am totally doing this only for the sake of my Ashikabi – and possibly Beni – who could definitely use some time relaxing and just playing around; free from the stress of the past couple weeks. We, her Sekirei, have been doing our best to support her as she adjusts to our life… but honestly, I am feeling that it's like putting band aids on bleeding wounds and hope that it works out.

Still, we've done an admirable job so far, I thought as I reflexively jumped past a lone dead marine in tattered clothes that shambled around. Behind me I could hear a sickening crack of bones as Uzume literally bowled over the corpse with her construct. Each spare moment of time Chiho gets, we try to occupy with our company. Each one of us, in our own way, distracts and prevents her from dwelling too much on the horrors she witnessed and ordered done.

In small portions, it's fine I believe, so long as she thinks about sparingly. But the moment she starts thinking too hard or too deep, we start feeling her distress and dark emotions seep through our bond and instantly know that a distraction is needed. It can be half serious flirting and sexual innuendos or jokes from Haihane and Uzume. Or it can be girly things like clothes or make up or such with Beni. It can be a light hearted conversation with me on any and all topics unrelated to whatever she was dwelling on. If all else fails, we call in the Cavalry and Kara comes along and proceeds to work her magic. I really don't know how she can convince Chiho that what happened was completely inevitable and would've been much worse if it wasn't for her and us. Somehow, every time, Chiho walks away sincerely believing that our presence caused the Best-Case-Scenario and only thanks to her hard work that Armageddon was averted. Sometimes, I thank the gods for Chiho's naivety.

Point is, our strategy is working so far. Chiho thinks about her nightmarish experiences in small dozes and as such the next time she remembers of it, it's dulled and the emotional peak had already passed, allowing her to think about it with a clearer head. Yet, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make good memories to offset the bad ones. The amusement park idea should definitely help with that. From what I've heard, it's a place that people go to have fun. I am not particularly sure how but it will definitely be worth a shot I think.

It definitely beats how I defeated my stress anyway. In the beginning I drank to forget, to keep the memories away. As time passed, I grew blunted to the horrors I saw and committed. In fact, as time passed, I drank for the company – the conversation and fun Kara, Yume and I had. After Yume's desertion and after Kara and I became a couple, we laid off on the drinks and instead drew comfort from each other. Sure we still drink but now it's more for the taste we acquired rather than actual need. It truly was a good thing our superior physiology prevented us from developing an alcohol addiction. Or so Akitsu mentioned when we talked about poisons, drugs and etc once. Speaking of which, I really should take her up on that poison immunity course. Apparently humans can grow tolerant to poisons by taking small doses of them so that a normal does doesn't kill them. According to Akitsu, our bodies go a step further and, on top of natural poison and drug resistance, can be trained to develop complete immunity to harmful substances if enough is in the system for a decent amount of time. I bet Akitsu is already immune to all drugs and poisons in existence…I on the other hand refused as Akitsu mentioned that it was a rather painful event to undergo and I really don't have the time to be sick right now.

Tch, I am beginning to ramble again, a technique I naturally developed to distract myself from pain. Despite my best attempts though, the dull pain in my thigh grew to a raging inferno that even broke through my mild meditation attempt. Sometime during my now derailed thought train I got passed by Uzume and I lagged in the back of this miniature caravan now. Even as I forced myself to move faster towards the approaching evacuation point, I knew that after this stunt I'll be bedridden for a day at least. Mostly because I hated crutches. I mean really, those things bugged the hell out of me, second only to wheelchairs. I didn't really dislike them as a concept, I mean it's an excellent idea to regain some sense of mobility, but I'll rather limp along or just stay in bed rather than admit myself to using one of them.

"Climb on."

I pulled myself out of the thought train I started up to distract myself once more, to find Uzume stopped her ball spider before me and Chiho stared at me in deep concern.

"Come on." Chiho extended her hand to me. "I can feel your pain you know. Come up, you're injured."

I was about to claim otherwise but stopped when another sharp throb of pain lanced through my thing and Chiho flinched as I hissed. Yea… there was no way around this, not only will Uzume have to carry a giant marble that looks like weighs a literal ton, but she'll have to carry me and Beni on top of that.

"Sorry." I said with a slight hiss to my words to Uzume as I climbed aboard with my thigh feeling like it was hit dead on by one of Yume's beams of light.

"It's…fine…" Uzume said in monotone, her eyes strangely unfocused. "Don't…disturb…"

Huh, did she go into a trance of sorts to boost her control over her power? It would seem that transporting this orb is pushing her to the limits of the control she has over her power. I was quickly distracted by the pain in my thigh as Uzume began moving once more from continuing on with that trail of thought. At this point, one of my sincerest wishes was to get out of my armour so I could take off the cuisses on my left thigh. I think it ranked right below Winning the Sekirei Plan…so pretty high up there. Seriously though, that will at least stop the continuous rubbing of the armour on my very sensitive thigh and at least lessen the pain.

It truly was a blessing that Wesker called off the Umbrella creatures as in this state, I am literally immobile. It was funny, really, to see all of the hounds and bears get out of our way the moment they noticed us. The walking corpses did try to take a bite but from what I saw so far, they were completely uncontrollable and simply attacked everything in sight. Honestly thought, the hounds unnerved me. Unlike the bears and the walking dead, they were too smart for their own good. True, they were relatively fragile, but their speed, pack mentality and primitive tactics were offsetting to say the least. Even now, a pack prowled around Uzume's spider ball. They didn't attack us, no, they used us as bait. Every now and then we'd stumbled across a civilian or a routed soldier or few that managed to escape from the hellish battlefield. Moments later, they'll be torn to pieces by the hounds that struck the distracted humans.

I don't know just how big the Umbrella forces that Wesker commands on this island are, but somehow I think that if that man so much as wished, the island was his, regardless of how many men the JSDF and the Americans brought in. To be honest, I don't even know what his goal is on this island now that I think about it. Would Umbrella really discard a veritable army simply to draw in the Disciplinary Squad and talk to us about a ceasefire and a possible future alliance? Yea, they could, but that's an incredible waste of resources and would've casted Umbrella's core as a bunch of incompetent imbeciles. No, Wesker is here for something else. The negotiations, or his one sided declaration, were definitely a vital objective but I am willing to bet that that was by far not their only goal here…

"We're here!"

I startled, nearly falling off the cocooned marble as Chiho's voice rang out, drawing me back into the world of hurt. Despite this though, I praised the gods that we are about to leave this smoke and corpse filled island, away from the din of battle and thundering of artillery which was about a dozen kilometers away now. The pack that followed us hanged back at a very respectable distance after Kara disintegrated a couple of them into nothingness with her Distant Blade technique. The sickly gray transparent crescent crossed the clearing in a flash and hit the pitiful hounds head on, cleaving a couple of them in twain and then dissolving the pieces till nothing remained. The pack got the message and was now circling around us at about a hundred meters rather than the previous 20.

Speaking of Kara, it took her a single glance in my direction and suddenly, she was by my side, her eyes scanning my body, trying to see why I was in such a terrible state. Saki only nodded in understanding and instead hurried over to the still unconscious Aizen who Haihane unceremoniously dumped into the tall grass.

"You look terrible." Haihane stated the obvious as she approached me at a slower pace than her venerable teacher. "Did you run into something while we were heading here?"

I was going to answer but Uzume chose this moment to set the ball down with a jolt, causing me to hiss from the sudden spike of pain in my thigh. Alright, that's it, I am taking apart, I've had it. I pulled myself up using Kara's offered hand and hit the buttons inside my collar in the sequence required to release the internal safeties in my armour. Kara immediately started helping me climb out of my armour but then we hit a snag. The releasing mechanism in the broken cuisses failed to release. I sort of expected this but it was frustrating nonetheless. I reached for my blade to start cutting when Kara halted me and drew her own, a familiar gray miasma appearing about it. Kara looked at me, waiting for the go ahead while I half stooped there, my upper body already armour less while my lower, starting from thighs, was still locked in armour.

I knew she was waiting for me to give her permission. And I did, not even a single shred of hesitance in my nod. Her evil miasma was certainly scary and I've seen what it does to those she so much as scratched with it. But this was Kara. My Kara. If she thought had even a single doubt in her offer, she wouldn't have offered it in the first place, not like this. If her hand so much as twitches, I may end up missing a leg. But despite all of this, I just couldn't see it happening. It's for this reason that I smiled in thanks and gently stretched my leg for ease of access. I watched with relaxed ease as Kara gently dragged and tapped her sword at the ruined armour, the solid metal disappearing away gradually. All around us we heard sharp intakes of breath but neither of us lifted their gaze from the armour that slowly corroded away. The thick, centimetre armour plate was gone in about a minute and Kara managed to do it carefully enough to not even touch the tracksuit immediately under it. As the armour piece fell apart in 3 smaller chunks on the grass, I breathed a sigh of relief, welcoming the cool night air that touched my thigh now. It even numbed the raging volcano that was my upper leg somewhat.

"Thanks." I smiled once more with gratitude at Kara who was sheathing her blade even as I quickly stepped out of my armour and let myself fall into the soft, thick grass of this clearing. Kara was about to say something when a faint hum interrupted her, causing all of us to look up as it rapidly intensified. Coming in from the north was the same dropship that picked us up after our first mission involving Umbrella and the same one that dropped us in under the cover of the night only hours ago. Looking at the sleek aircraft that descended on the clearing directly vertically, I couldn't help but admire the vehicle. Considering it was now our new main method of transportation, as Minaka assigned both it and it's very excitable pilot under our command, Kara and I spent some time talking to its young pilot with a very telling nickname 'Joker'. The swallow-looking dropship was a stealth aircraft, the top of the line technology augmented by Sekirei tech ensured that the only way to spot this thing was to see it and even then it had an active chameleon system that could project a holographic image of the sky around the aircraft.

A light, maneuverable, fast and quite stealthy dropship. Just what we need to get out of here. We might have some trouble with the red marble but I'll trust the pilot not to have been completely exaggerating when he said he could lift a tank with his bird. We loaded in quickly and without incident as Uzume made the pilot hover a little over the marble as she tied the cocoon to the bottom of the aircraft. As she did that, Kara carried me inside and soon I was breathing a sigh of relief as the painkillers from Beni's pouch started to work their magic. I stared out into the window as we rose above the clearing and the pilot did a pinpoint 180 degree turn. I caught the sight of Wesker, standing at the edge of the clearing with his hounds around him as he stared at us with an expressionless face.

What an interesting man, I thought. Given different circumstances, he and the Disciplinary Squad could've hit it off just fine… I raised my gaze higher as we rose into the air. Just on the edge of the dark horizon, a hint of red peeked, the sun on its way to reveal everything occurred under the cover of the night. In the early morning twilight, I could see the island beneath me burning. The southwest coast near which we were picked up from was relatively clear but the more my gaze wandered to the east and north the bleaker the things looked. The military base we fought in was burning to the ground, completely still and dead under the pale moonlight with thick smoke filled with flecks of fire draped over it like a badly patched blanket. The city to the north was also burning, entire sectors in the south on fire even as more and more plumes of smoke rose in the center and the north. And everywhere, there were jets, the multipurpose aircraft circling about like angry wasps around a burning nest.

We all looked on at the burning city and the smoke covered forest in silence, all of use burdened by our own thoughts. All of us – those awake that is – feeling unease at the sight of the smoke and fire covered island we left behind as we flew towards a red dawn.


	61. Gate:Report

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Resident Evil (Biohazard) belongs to Shinji Mikami.

Obligatory Sorry for being late here

Honestly, life/work/etc just keeps getting in the way of me actually posting this...I have like 1.5 notebooks worth of stuff written that I can't find the time to post...

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><p>We were nearing Shinto Teito when Uzume disrupted the brooding silence.<p>

"What are we going to do with the not-Sekirei-Tama thing?" Uzume asked quietly, mindful of everyone sleeping and the pilot. "Are we just going to hand it over to Minaka?"

We all exchanged a glance at the question. And by 'we all' I mean me and Kara with Chiho who sat on either side of me, providing comfort. Beni was still asleep in the arms of Haihane who also dozed off, her head resting against the helicopter wall. Aizen also nodded off, his head hanging over his injured Sekirei who was sleeping with her head in his lap and her fingers intertwined with her Ashikabi, a smile on her face. I, who couldn't sleep due to my painfully throbbing thigh, Kara and Chiho who decided to keep me company and Uzume who was keeping an eye on the cocooned ball that gently swung in the air currents below the dropship were the only ones currently awake. Oh, and the pilot of course, but I very much doubt he was paying attention to us rather than the aircraft he was flying.

"I…" Chiho hesitated and glanced around before continuing. "I don't trust the Director. Shouldn't we give this to someone we trust to study?"

Although we all nodded in agreement, Kara went further and pulled out a phone. After the third redial, the phone call recipient finally picked up and voice that just oozed maliciousness answered.

"Karasuba...so God help me, if you didn't call for anything less than an Armageddon effective immediately, I swear I'll shove that katana of your up your ass so far-" The voice paused yawning. "Right after I finally get some sleep."

"Oh?" Kara grinned cheerfully. "So you aren't interested in a red core over 2 meters in diameter that we liberated from an Umbrella failure in pristine condition?"

"I hate you. I just went to bed for the first time in 2 days." Takami's voice finally stopped sounding like it belonged to the God of All Evil and instead turned into that of an exhausted woman. "Bring it in, Akitsu and I will take it."

Kara ended the call and smirked at Uzume's and Chiho's incredulous faces. I merely smiled and shifted over, closing my eyes, feeling the numbing effect of the painkillers I took finally take effect. Now that the big bowling ball is taken care off and my thigh is finally pacified, maybe I could finally get some sleep…

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><p>"This ceiling." I mused out loud as I stared at a solid white ceiling. "Is quite familiar…"<p>

After a bit, I came to a conclusion that this ceiling very much reminds me of the ceiling in the infirmary I attended last time I was hurt. So I was obviously in the infirmary, a quick glance around the empty and sterile white room confirmed as much, but where was everyone else? As a side note, I experimentally moved my left leg and noted - with no small amount of glee - that my leg was behaving and feeling perfectly normal. After dressing up, I closed my eyes, found the solar-like presence and shifted until it was directly before me. I opened my eyes just in time to see the door I turned to face open and Chiho walk in.

"Rei! It's great to see you're alright!" Chiho smiled widely as she crossed the distance between us in a couple great leaps and glomped me, the tip of her head just below my breasts, making it a bit difficult for me to ruffle her hair as I wanted to. So instead I had to settle with returning the hug instead.

"We thought you might not wake up today but Minaka insisted that I check up on you." Chiho turned her head so she could speak, still pressing her body into mine. "We needed to go, report what happened."

Contrary to what she said, she continued to hug me, the action confusing me for a moment. Finally, she stepped back, a sly light in her eyes.

"You should wear your armour less often Rei." She smirked, a touch of red on her cheeks. "You're very huggable and soft when you don't."

"My, my," Despite taking a momentary pause to suppress an urge to gape in surprise at my Ashikabi flirting, I quickly picked up the challenge. "It would seem that Uzume's and Haihane's efforts to keep you satisfied are lacking if you're making a move on me. Perhaps I should mention this to them?"

I laughed softly in amused satisfaction upon seeing Chiho's face adopt a strange expression as if she couldn't quite decide. Should she go snow white in horror at the premise that the perverted duo will redouble their efforts or go tomato red as her imagination kicked into high gear, working furiously to show it's owner just how the duo might redouble their 'efforts'.

"I-I-I…" She stuttered before her brain rebooted and she struck a frown at my laughter which slowly increased in intensity. "I was only saying that I wish I could see you without your armour more!"

"Oh?" I snickered as I walked closer, making sure to add a little sway as I approached my pink Ashikabi. "If you want to bed your Sekirei, you must only ask, my Ashikabi. That's the only place you'll see me without my armour after all."

"Yea…" Chiho said quietly with a hint of sadness, the transition from her pink visage to a melancholic one practically instantaneous. The nigh instant sudden change surprised me greatly and the rest of the journey to the White Clown's office passed in silence as Chiho thought on something, dark melancholy slowly leaking from her through our bond while I on the other hand was trying to figure what was it that I said to cause this. I mean...it was something I said...right?

We walked into the office to see the Disciplinary Squad with Aizen and Saki turn to glance at us the moment the door opened before everyone turned back to the Director. I must say, Minaka looked...well, I can see that he hadn't slept at all since he'd sent us on this mission. I've seen the White Clown in many shapes - from ruffled to beaten, from mad to serious, from joyful to enraged. But, I've never really seen him so...tired. He really looked like a mad scientist now, disheveled and haggard with bags under his eyes and his hair that looked wild even at his best times, was now jangled mess.

"Ah, you are here." Minaka turned to me, a hand on his desk as he supported himself to stay upright. "Good, good. The more information I have, the faster I'll solve this by the Gods be damned riddle!"

"But first…" He gave a half dead flourish with his arm and the screens in the back of the room came to life, each one of the dozen or so big screens showing different news broadcasts from all sorts of languages; from Japanese and Chinese, to English, German, French, Russian… "I find this one particularly interesting."

With a gesture, one of the screens enlarged to fill the rest as a blonde female news anchor flickered for a second and then started again, an obvious recording. I felt surprise at seeing a BBC logo on the screen. I didn't really expect Minaka to pick a foreign English channel to show us something. Of course, I had a fairly large hint of what we were about to be shown but why English News? This is happening on our land, on a Japanese Isle, is it not?

"Good evening, this is BBC news with Jaina Storm." The blond woman briskly began with a serious expression on her thin features. "The top story tonight continues to be the disaster at the island of Okinawa in Japan. Newscasts have been keeping a close eye on the large-scale combat near and inside the city of Uruma in the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan."

The screen changed to show several short videos and pictures depicting multiple jets soaring in the sky, with missile trails and explosions below lighting up the morning sky. The woman continued to talk over the muted videos.

"According to videos posted to the Internet during the morning hours of Japan, the fighting began in the western part of Kadena Ammunitions Storage Area, near Camp McTureos. Both are American Military bases. Although the military could not be reached, a spokesperson admitted that the fighting began around that area. At around 7 am local time, videos and blog posts of monsters began to appear on the Internet from the residents of Uruma, just as the fighting began to die down in the location of the American Military bases. Who they fought remains a mystery, and the exact time of the incident is unknown."

Here pictures and several short clips of the ever familiar hounds and risen corpses were shown even as the news anchor kept talking calmly.

"Our colleagues from Uruma news stations managed to acquire on-the-scene footage of the catastrophe. They did not survive their duties." The news anchor paused for several seconds somberly; her head bowed in respect before she straightened up and went back to reporting. "By 9 am, the city of Uruma's police department was flooded with hundreds of calls for help, as everyone bitten by the monsters turned into one themselves."

The news anchor continued over a video track of an apartment view on the city were dozens of fleeing civilians fell to the hounds and walking dead.

"Hours later, videos surfaced showing the American Army deploying en masse to the area. Alongside the Japanese Self Defence Force, they are fighting contain the situation."

"A US Marines and Special Bio-Hazard Containment unit, known as BlackWatch, moved in to clear the city block by block. As a result, Uruma is under quarantine."

Here a video was inserted which showed dozens of LAVs and troop transports speeding by, a black and white Star with dual 4 feathered wings in the back ground.

"US Sergeant Major Eriksson stated that with the current progress, Uruma will be cleansed by this time tomorrow. However, until further notice, all flights to and from Uruma, as well as any land or sea based transport, are banned. In addition, BlackWatch Lieutenant-General Peter Randall has warned that anyone who tries to escape the quarantine zone will be shot."

"Thanks to the US Army operative response-"

"And the rest is a bunch of American worshipping bullshit." Minaka turned to us as the screen turned black and surveyed our company with dead tired but still watchful eyes.

"Now, I know I said feel free to raze the base to the ground if you feel like it." Minaka sat on the edge of his desk with a tired sigh. "But don't you think that destroying 2 bases, demolishing a nearby city and setting most of the island on fire is a bit much?"

"I mean, I already have to deal with this bullshit without having you all add more trouble." With a wave of his hand another video came to life, this one clearly a civilian filming on a camera, judging by the shaking. On screen there was a slightly blurry but still easily discernible shape of the Cthulhu wanabe that Kara sliced to pieces. As the operator swore and yelled something about a 'Kaiju' the giant Kraken thing unleashed it's static-filled roar and the operator dropped his camera in fright as he ran away screaming, ending the clip.

"So tell me," Minaka walked around his table and sank into his leather chair with a relieved sigh. "Just what happened that caused all of Okinawa to get locked down, most of Uruma to get razed to the ground and half of the world panic over a 'zombie apocalypse' approaching."

"Umbrella happened." Kara grinned in glee at the sight of Minaka dropping his head on the desk in defeat.

"I sort of figured that part out myself. Mostly because I was the one who sent you to deal with them." I snickered at the half-muffled, dead pan voice. "The funny thing about this though, is the fact that Umbrella disbanded and completely disappeared last night and no one seems to know just where any of their ranking staff went."

"Eh?" Uzume's blunt surprise pretty much summed up our reaction to this startling piece of news.

"Whatever, it's irrelevant to you right now." Minaka tilted his head so that it now laid on his right cheek as he stared at us. "What does matter, is why you didn't contain the Umbrella spawn at the base. I specifically ordered you to destroy Umbrella resources and shipment, didn't I?"

"Uhm, you actually said to destroy any and all Sekirei based tech, Director…" Chiho visibly withered under his tired but very angry glare. "I-I-"

"We didn't find any Sekirei technology at the scene." Aizen confidently interrupted, stepping forth to block out Chiho from the Clown's – no, I thought this isn't a Clown right now – from Minaka's glare. "The ID were wrong, Director. I personally checked all of the warehouses and storage areas. Umbrella didn't sneak in any of their Sekirei based technology aside from the giant tentacle monster we killed. They only brought in those fiends that run amok in Okinawa right now."

"I see…" Minaka sat up and rubbed his smooth chin in thought. "Very well, it won't be the first time ID turned out to be wrong about something, unfortunately."

"I am interested in this monster you fought though." Minaka's glasses glinted, hiding his eyes from sight momentarily. "I already received a notice from Takami that she and her crew have received the 'Core' and have begun to work on it. I also saw a few videos and preliminary report on the carcass by the BlackWatch who took over the site after you left. However, videos and reports are one thing, talking to those who fought it is another."

"Then you'll have to ask Lady Karasuba, Uzume or Haihane, as they were the ones who took it down." Aizen glanced my way for an instant before continuing. "I was too busy tending to Saki and Benitsubasa who were wounded and exhausted, respectively. Lady Rei was also busy watching the forest as she was the only somewhat battle capable Sekirei with us at the time."

I nodded, showing that his words are true. Minaka doesn't need to know about Wesker after all… However, I thought as I glanced at Aizen who nodded slightly, it's interesting to see that this boy and his Sekirei are smart enough to figure this part out too. I was going to talk with them about this to convince them to stay silent about Wesker but the sleep that lasted from of the day scrambled my plans. Now all I have to do is make sure that Chiho doesn't mention the Umbrella 'agent' and the truce he offered.

That part was easy, really. All I had to do was make sure that Minaka's tired but still somewhat focused attention was fixated on Kara who described the fight. Once I was sure that the dead tired man before us wouldn't notice anything, I turned slightly to Chiho who sported a thoughtful expression on her face and, when her eyes shifted to me, shook my head ever so slightly. Minaka might look like he's too tired to notice anything but I had my doubts. Can't ever be too careful with people of his caliber. Chiho in the meanwhile closed her eyes for a couple seconds in acknowledgement after a brief pause of surprise and then backed up a bit, leaving me standing in the front.

I refocused my attention on the conversation just in time for Minaka to ask a question.

"In your opinion…" The man suppressed a yawn and tried again. "In your opinion, are these Umbrella creations a threat to us?"

"To us? Much like humans, these puppies, bears and corpses are only dangerous in high numbers. Perhaps with a leader to guide them they'll pose a greater threat." Kara smirked. "For MBI on the other hand, although the only possible use of regular foot soldiers is cannon fodder or covering fire, the Specialists shouldn't have problems with dealing with small to medium hordes."

"I understand." The Clown turned to me. "Your opinion? You were injured by these 'puppies' after all."

"Although they pose little threat to higher ranked Sekirei," I readily answered, ignoring his jab at my incompetence. "They are fairly smart and can use basic pack tactics. Particularly troublesome is their insistence at going after weaker targets like Ashikabi, forcing the Sekirei to defend their Ashikabi rather than focus on fighting these dogs."

"Hmm…" Minaka took off his glasses and rubbed his face wearily. "That's good. Now, is there anything else you perhaps want to tell me?"

"There is one more thing." Aizen stepped forth and smirked at us all, causing me a pang of panic at the possibility of him revealing Wesker. "Saki and I very much liked having a solid, reliable backup for once and we'd like to work with the Disciplinary Squad a lot more often in the future."

"Really now…" Minaka muttered, his face still resting in his palms, missing me toss a glare at the boy who merely smirked once more and adjusted his glasses, catching one of the lamp's rays. "I don't see a problem with that. However, with the Sekirei Plan coming to finishing stages, I fear your opportunities will be…limited, at best."

"Regardless, I approve your request." Minaka put his glasses back on and looked at us sharply, somehow visibly refreshed by this small reprieve. "Now, you've all done an admirable job, considering the circumstances, and I can see that rest is in order. So get out of here so I can do my part of the job."


	62. Gate:Pledge

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

What would happen if Rei cut a black hole... Well, for one she'd have to get close enough to one to do it. Pretty sure the instant she steps out of Spirit Realm when she's so close she'll get crushed into powder. If she tries to instead do a Gate:Swap on a part of it, chances are it'll damage the hole, possibly even collapse it based on how much she swapped. That being said, she'll instantly die as the black hole piece she swapped will crush her into powder. Or it might do absolutely nothing. The Spirit Realm laws of physics are wonky at best and downright magical at worst. It's a place where willpower overrules World Laws, which include physics, after all...

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><p>I laid by Kara's side, staring at the dark ceiling blankly. Although Kara, having not slept much like Minaka, went to sleep the instant she hit the pillow, I couldn't. Mostly because I literally just woke up from what I think is a 24 or so hour nap. However…there were other factors at play too. Now that I couldn't sleep, I had thoughts begin to bug me about both the mission we just finished and what happened before it.<p>

To think that Umbrella really would toss away billions of dollars' worth of equipment and well, practically everything, away just so they could talk to us and arrange a truce which has the chances of eventually growing into a full scale alliance is…I don't know. I just don't know. I know I am missing pieces, most likely crucial ones, that would make this alien mosaic fall in place but I can bet practically anything that Umbrella was chasing after something else here…

I carefully got out of the bed, taking utmost attention not to wake up Kara before I switched to Soul form and walked through the wall to the open area of the bar mixed with living room deal we had. I really wanted to let my lover get some well-deserved rest so I didn't dare go for the door that might make some noise. Once there, I sat down behind the middle of the bar table and quietly activated the holo-screen inbuilt into the table. We usually watched movies or what not here, drinking as we did but this time I was interested in the internet function of it.

As I slowly typed my query to google and began to read through all sorts of news, forums and articles about what was happening at Uruma a faint picture began to form. The more I read, the more the tidbits of information began to form puzzle pieces that drifted around, infuriatingly tantalizing. It was just at the tips of my fingers yet I couldn't make sense of it, I couldn't put it together yet.

Umbrella freighter pulls into port. Cargo is unloaded and delivered straight to nearby Munitions depot of the American Marines. Minaka sends us in. The cargo is somehow emptied and the Umbrella pet experiments are placed somewhere… I brought up a map and began to study it. If we were coming in from the north-east and they struck from east, maybe south-east… That's the port area isn't it? Slightly to the south of that area is where we killed the Cthulhu wannabe…

No, I abandoned that trail of thought; I still didn't know enough to figure out what that meant. Let's continue looking… Let's see, the military is pushed out of their base, mostly thanks to us destroying most of the helicopters and all of their entrenched positions. The monsters suddenly abandon pressing at the wavering Marines and charge into the city, infecting everything they see. The Marines now free of pursuit regroup, gather reinforcements, form an armoured fist and smash into the infected city, spraying fire and hail of bullets at anything that so much as twitched. The massed armour and newly scrambled helicopters from the further bases allow the US Marines to 'liberate' Uruma…Wait…

I hurriedly skimmed through the holographic website pages, looking for what I needed. Here it is. I watched a civilian posting the initial fight. The first battle between the Human's armoured fist and Umbrella creations was brutal to say the least. They fought for over an hour, turning the city's entire southern peripheral into nothing but rubble bathed in blood with shredded flesh and broken vehicles strewn about. And…that was it. I could felt my eyebrows threaten to fly away. Umbrella had about half a day to go wild on the city and, by what I've read and watched, they had. Yet the battle was involving but a fraction of the Umbrella forces in the city. This posed a fascinating question. If all the US Marines did was clean up and secure the city after the initial battle, where the hell did all of the infected go?

They couldn't go overland, the Americans had those BlackWatch Special Forces blockade the city and I refuse to believe they are so incompetent as to not notice a horde of several tens of thousands of infected stroll by. And that's how many the Umbrella horde managed to get over half a day or so of rampaging in the city which had just under 130 thousand if the initial estimates are anything to believe. Considering they couldn't fly either and were very ill suited for swimming, that only left one option: the sewers. Yet, I refused to believe the Americans didn't think of this possibility. That would be just plain silly really, blockading all routes in and out of the city and then forgetting about the sewers.

Then…wait…what was that? I opened a fairly shaky and thus smudged video someone streamed onto some obscure site I chanced on. As the camera stabilized a bit and the operator began rambling about how he had to show this even if it's almost guaranteed to kill him, I frowned as I saw him peek behind a corner of a building at what appeared to be a giant, fleshy blob of raw red mass. As seconds passed by and the operator was starting to sneak back, a growl could be heard and then the operator hit the ground screaming, torn apart by a couple hounds. I was about to close the video here, but to my surprise, it showed that it had about 5 more minutes of footage. Interested, I skipped to the end and wasn't disappointed. The fleshy blob thing exploded violently and a gigantic worm popped out with a rather toothy grin. It let out a shrill screech that shattered the camera lens and ended the video.

I rewound back and read the street sign. Having that information, I logged into the MBI spy satellite orbiting the Uruma area and zoomed in on the street. Technically, we were supposed to use the spy satellites only in dire situations, or so Minaka claimed, but I didn't particularly care about the technicalities right now, I was on the trail of something big. Something…like this gigantic hole in the ground cordoned off by US Marines who had several tanks around it on standby.

I sighed and leaned back, closing the holo-screen. Umbrella used it's creations not only to speak to us but to also sneak out roughly half a hundred thousand bodies out of a city that nobody will miss…for a while. Why? I massaged my temples and decided to just quit it. I really wasn't meant to do all of this thinking and investigative bullshit, let Takami or Akitsu mull on this. Or maybe I'll call Dai or Matsu. Regardless, I think I've spent enough time here; perhaps I should go back and see if I can sleep.

As I stood up, I closed my eyes and stretched, turning my head over to my Ashikabi's room. She's alone tonight, perhaps I should…huh? I frowned, twisted my head and focused harder. What the hell was Chiho doing somewhere upstairs and not in her room? I turned to the door, on my way to find the answer to said question before I paused. Perhaps I should at least put on my bathrobe. I mean, I don't particularly care about prancing about in only my panties considering the building is empty at this hour, but it might get a bit chilly… And I think I'll grab a sword just in case. I forced myself to only take one though, as I had to carry the blade naked considering that its scabbard was practically welded to the armour. Note to self, get a separate scabbard just in case.

* * *

><p>As I had expected, the hallways of the tower were completely empty and the only hint of life were the automatic led lights that illuminated the corridors I treaded with soft white light. I appreciated how they gently faded in when I approached and how they faded out as I left, the soft transition allowing me to keep my night vision and not blind me. I made my way up the tower for several floors before realizing that the brilliant golden sun that represented Chiho in my mind didn't move at all and was still somewhere directly above. Sighing about my foolishness, I made it to the elevators and sped up to the top floor which was Minaka's office.<p>

With a roll of my eyes, I turned towards the rooftop stairs and started climbing up. Just what was Chiho doing up there? I quietly pushed the half open metal door and stepped out into the windless moonlight of the night. Glancing about, clutching my robe closer to myself in the chill even as my left hand held my sword, I saw the small girl sitting on the edge of the rooftop, watching over the city in silence. I frowned as I slowly made my way to her, my steps uncharacteristically quiet now that my feet weren't clad in solid metal greaves. I haven't noticed that our Ashikabi had suicidal tendencies, this was quite… Oh, I see. She tied herself to one of the metal towers that supported a gigantic dish slightly away from the clock tower that Minaka loved to make speeches in front of with some rope. So she wasn't contemplating jumping off, she really was just watching the city.

Still, it was strange, I thought darkly as I sat down beside the still girl, dark feeling slowly radiating from my Ashikabi who didn't even look at me to acknowledge my presence. However, I could feel that now, with my silent presence, her emotions slowly started to lighten up until nothing but deep sorrow remained.

As we sat, I watched over the deathly silent city. It was a rather morbid picture truth be told. Heavy, thick gray fog covered the city, portraying the image of a dead gray ocean, stretching to the horizon with empty skyscrapers jutting out about like broken rocks. Some were only slightly taller than the cloud that descended upon the city, giving the impressions of the malicious beach-side rocks that hid with the tide and sought to destroy any ship that foolishly ventured close. Others, like the MBI Tower we sat on, towered over the deathly still sea like irregular cliffs and reefs that jutted out, refusing to be consumed by the grayness like the rest. I don't know what time it was, I kind of forgot to check while I was busy looking up stuff on the internet downstairs, but I found it odd that there were practically no lights. Mere months ago, this city was bursting with life, be it day or night, clear sky or monsoon. The city was alive. Now though… Now I felt like I was looking at a corpse someone forgot to bury and left lying under the silver light of the waxing moon.

"I used to watch the city out of my window back in the hospital." I was wakened from my thoughts by a quiet voice beside me. It was almost like Chiho spoke to herself as only the complete silence around us allowed me to hear her voice.

"Out of my window on the top floor, I watched people go about their lives, be it night or day. I was happy for them and at the same time sad that I couldn't join them on the streets and do the same." The small girl who sat, wrapped in a blanket beside me, continued. "I watched a city full of life move while I was chained to one place, slowly withering away."

"But now…" Chiho slowly swept her arm across the drowned metropolis before her and let it drop lifelessly. "Now I am healed and free, watching the city that is my home die slowly, locked in shackles of paralyzing fear. Can you sense it? It's in the people still here, in the very steel and concrete these structures are made of. The air we breathe is full to the point of overflow with it."

I stayed quiet, letting the petite girl who leaned on my side monologue as we both watched the lifeless gray ocean before us.

"Minaka is killing the city I was born in, grew up in and live in." Chiho spoke hauntingly. "And I am helping him. Helping him because there truly is no other way."

"You know Rei…" She finally turned her head to me, her warm brown eyes turned void black under the silver moonlight. "I know that you wish to go back in time and undo the damage the Director had done before it even happens. I know that Karasuba, Haihane and Benitsubasa all support you or even share your wish."

"But I…" She leaned deeper into my embrace, her face resting on my chest. "I just wish for a place where you don't have to wear armour and carry swords everywhere. I wish for a place where Benitsubasa doesn't cry silently in her sleep, plagued by the nightmares of all those people that she killed. I wish for a place where Uzume doesn't sneak out before sunrise to go pray for the souls that lost their lives to her. I wish for a place where Haihane can always be her normal, sarcastic and perverted self rather than hiding behind a mask of arrogance and pride that she takes off only when she's with us. I wish… I wish for a place where Karasuba's eyes don't occasionally turn dead when she loses herself in thought over something I don't know."

"We…" I paused, swallowing a tightness in my throat as I hugged my hurting Ashikabi to my chest. "We can create a place like that. When we go back, we can-"

"Can we?" Chiho interrupted me with a bitter laugh. "Rei, what is your dream? What are you going to do once we win and your wish is granted? When you will appear, all alone, 20 years back in time? I wasn't even born yet then…"

"I'll…I'll…" I frowned. What will I do once I receive my wish? Will I even be able to do anything? If what Chiho says is true and I'll be all alone, will I find the strength to go on? Without my cute sister Beni, without Haihane's and Uzume's perverted antics, without the soft all-encompassing light that is Chiho. Without… I swallowed as the last part knocked my breath off as I even considered it. Will I be able to build a future for my race, alone? Is there a point to my wish if it leaves me all alone?

And if it doesn't, if I am sent back in time with my family, what will I do once we get rid of Minaka and do what we set out to accomplish? Rather… what can I do? Because all I've done to date is kill and kill and kill and kill until I can see nothing but corpses. I walk on corpses under a crimson sky in a torrent of blood. Will there ever be an end? Is there something else other than the eternal graveyard at the end of the horizon towards which I stumble to? Can my power even be used in time of peace?

"Even if you manage to accomplish everything you seek to do," Chiho continued, her acidic black words slowly corroding me. "You'll always carry the burden of what you've done, of everyone you've killed. You could create a Utopia…But will there be a place for you in that Utopia?"

"I…don't know." I admitted truthfully, tilting my head to stare at the cold moon in melancholy. "I do not know."

"And neither do I." Chiho muttered tiredly as her grip around me tightened. "The things we've done… the things we've seen… Had it not been for you guys and your immeasurable support, I don't know what would've happened to me… what depths of insanity that weight would drive me to…"

"Why the surprised face?" Chiho smiled forlornly at me. "Ever since I've been locked to my hospital bed with nothing to do I've meditated and did all sorts of things to pass time. I could feel Uzume clearly at any time I wished, remember? And ever since you had chosen me to be your Ashikabi I could do the same. Your emotions… your worry and endless care for me is so… so strong that I don't even have to focus to feel it. It's like I am enveloped in a gentle warmth. I can add your seemingly random actions to your emotions easily you know. I know that Haihane and Uzume, perverted as they are, aren't quite ridiculous as they make a show of being."

"Thank you, all of you, for being there for me." Chiho hugged me tightly, quietening down for a few seconds. "Without you all I'd be lost…but…even if we all stay together, what do we do once we attain our goal? Can we live with what we've done to get there? Even now, I feel the weight of those who I ordered killed press down upon me, forcing me down…"

"Then let me carry it." We both turned around to see Kara standing regally in the moonlight wearing nothing but her haori draped over her shoulders, her trusted sheathed blade resting in her hands.

"If you feel lost and don't know where to go, then follow me. If you don't know what to believe in, believe in me." She said seriously, her pale brown eyes glimmering in the faint light emitted by the moon, her characteristic grin gone from her face. "If you cant keep moving from weight of what must be done, then I will carry it. I will build a Utopia where Chiho's and our wishes are a reality."

I stared at her, transfixed, unable to take my eyes from the woman before me that seemed to radiate confidence. My heart was pounding from her words and I felt quite a bit of heat creep up my neck. Although that last part may have been due to the fact that Kara stood before us in all her naked glory as her haori only hid her back, shoulders and arms, leaving the rest to plain sight. With a soft chuckle, I stood up, Chiho rising up beside me, her face also flushed.

"What kind of a foolish Guide am I?" I shook my head in mock despair, a gentle smile on my lips. "I had let my path run away from me."

I grabbed my sword tightly and then stepped forth to kneel before a surprise Kara, my blade digging into the concrete roof before me.

"I pledge myself, my faith, my blades and my Tama to you Karasuba." I began, staring at Kara into her beautiful eyes, ignoring a strange sensation in my Tama as instinct guided me. Even as soft blue glow began to gather around me, I once more ignored it and continued, feeling that this was the right thing to do.

"I will follow you faithfully, for ever and ever, my Pillar."

The moment I finished my monologue, it was as if an incredibly wound coil inside the center of my chest shattered to pieces. A burst of pale blue flames lashed out from my Tama to Kara's, solidifying into a thick, tightly coiled wire for an instant before shattering and fading away. Suddenly, I could feel Kara. I could feel her confusion, her surprise and her worry for me. I could sense her, a Dark Sun in my mind's eye, just as sharply as I could feel the Golden Star that represented Chiho.

I stood up and smiled serenely at Kara who stood before me blinking shell-shocked. I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of confidence and relief, like a hopelessly lost traveller who had long abandoned all hope suddenly stumbled onto a highway. I now had a path…a new goal. It doesn't matter what intermediate goals, dreams and objectives I accomplish.

So long as the Dark Sun and the Golden Star illuminated this black and twisted forest of nightmares around us…

"Fuck this shit," Kara rubbed her face tiredly before reaching out and grabbing both me and Chiho. "All of this can wait till morning, lets go."


	63. Gate:Oneiroi

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>Unsurprisingly, I awoke first. After all, I did have a good sleep the day prior. Awake I did but I was quite content to just lie there, looking at the sleeping faces of Chiho and Kara, a gentle smile on my lips as I watched my family dream, illuminated by the morning sun that seeped through the curtains. Last night Kara just dragged both of us to her bed and fell asleep the moment she crashed onto the bed, her arms hugging both of us to her with a gentle but steel grip that we would've been hard pressed to leave...if the thought ever crossed our minds. Instead, we snuggled closer and followed our Kara to conquer Demos Oneiroi. The Kingdom of Morpheus and his thousand siblings.<p>

Somehow, overnight, Kara managed to end up on her back with Chiho on her right, our Ashikabi's face resting on Kara's firm breast like a pillow while the Black Sekirei ended up with her face in my chest as I wrapped my arms around her head. I somehow managed to wrap my bigger body around Kara's during the night resulting in this posture. Thankfully, my own breasts were roughly Kara's modest size. Had I Uzume's or even crazier size like Musubi or Kazehana had then Kara would've had a problem. As it stood - or laid - though, we were all in a tight ball of limbs and bodies, pressed hard to each other. Yet the comfort - amongst other emotions - was so surreally high that I simply couldn't bring myself to move, wishing that this moment would last forever and ever.

So instead I lay there, letting my thoughts wander absentmindedly as I drank in the atmosphere of absolute peace and love that I was practically bathed in. First on the list was, of course, what happened last night. It was truly amazing, I thought as my hands slowly and carefully played with the sea of gray and light brown hair of Chiho and Kara that mingled and flowed together in a stunningly beautiful makeshift blanket that covered Kara's upper body, just how much stuff was hidden in our instincts and emotions. Sekirei can Initiate their Tama instinctively just by our emotions. We can find our Ashikabi just by following our instincts and letting our emotions guide us. We can use our emotions and give them form in the shape of our Norito just by lettings our instincts and Ashikabi mold them. And now, my emotions of last night, my realization that my dreams and goals are meaningless if Kara isn't there with me… I wanted to stay with my Kara...just stay with her forever; there is no other dream for me now. My emotions ran so high that my instincts guided me to…

Well, I don't really know what happened. All I know is that the moment I close my eyes, I can see twin equally bright stars lie beside. I can see the Gold Star gently transition into a Dark Sun in a breathtaking meld of Gold, Black and Dark Red. I know, inside of myself, that nothing short of my absolute breath will now prevent me from seeing these 2 Celestial Beings that lie here with me. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Still, I should probably bring this up to Akitsu and Takami. If anyone, it would be them who'd figure out what happened. I mean, I already have a big hint as to what that was, but it wouldn't hurt to ask someone I knew and respected right? That and...well... both Kara and I have some questions for them to answer particularly about their behaviour a couple days back where we caught the end of their conversation with the White Clown. We should also take Chiho with us. Our Ashikabi should slowly start to get more and more involved in these sorts of things. It would seem that, based on her confession yesterday, that so long as we support her, she can break mountains and move oceans...figuratively speaking of course.

I also want to see Akitsu again. I want to figure out just what is going on between us. I know that she loves Takami as only a Sekirei could love their Ashikabi. I also know that she laid claim on me after that fateful night a month ago and is willing to fight to the end over me as proven constantly by her occasional fights with Kara. I know she has feelings for me and I do return them. I love Akitsu, like an older sister and more, but I am not sure if it's fair for her. I after all have both Chiho and Kara and my time I can spend with the Ice Sekirei is quite limited. That is not fair. I feel horrible that I can't spend the time I feel Akitsu deserves with her. Not only am I constantly gone on missions with my team, she is also constantly busy, sometimes all 24 hours of the day working hard with Takami. I sincerely hope that today won't be one of those days and we can spend some time together.

Aside from my personal interest in meeting Akitsu, she should also take a look at our Chiho. I mean, our Ashikabi can sense the emotions of her Sekirei with only a bit of concentration and I think it's amazing. Chiho Hidaka, Ashikabi extraordinaire, I giggled in my mind as I pictured her expression to the title. I wonder though, considering she can read our emotions so easily, can she do the same with our thoughts? I still remembered that one time I tried to use our bond like my link with the now sleeping Archive to take a look at her thoughts. I succeeded but unlike the calm, gentle and cool mind of Archive that invited me in, i was met by a chaotically unstable star of images and emotions. Unlike the tranquil chill of Archive, Chiho's mind was a raging inferno of a star, her thoughts so tightly bound to her emotions that I couldn't tell where one began and another ended. They all seemed to flow seamlessly from one to another to a third and so on. The shock and confusion I felt severed my link to her and since then I had not dared to try again. However, now that I know that she can feel our emotions just as clearly as she can see, I think we should try some mental practise. If Chiho learns to create mental links to her Sekirei and begin to hear our thoughts and talk to us mentally, it'll prove to be a great advantage to us all.

So with this thought, I steeled myself and began to slowly submerge my consciousness into the bond I shared with my Ashikabi. I almost lost concentration when I realized that there were 2 of them now and instead of the Gold Star I was aiming for I almost ended up traveling towards the Dark Sun. Still, I recovered and promised myself to test this particular route later, after I talk to Kara about it. And so, with great focus and stalwart determination, I dived into the bond and slipped into the depthless void of my Tama to reach my Ashikabi. My last fleeting thought as I went down the lightless hole was, 'was it really a good idea to reach for a dreaming mind?'

As I floated down the bond, I started to meet resistance. Nigh unnoticeable at first, it grew to be somewhat bothersome before, with a snap I felt rather than heard, it broke and I stopped, feeling a faint light on my...eyelids? When did I close my eyes? Hmm, whatever, now that I am here I should appear in a world created by the owner's subconsciousness. Archive's for instance was an endless snow covered steppe that stretched into the infinity with mountains hovering ON the horizon. Considering that this is the subconsciousness, the 'Inner World' so to speak, it can take any shape or form, no matter how unnatural or unreal. Archive's mountains that hovered above the snow covered steppe was pretty normal as far as these Inner Worlds go, or so he stated. It is with these thoughts that I opened my eyes and blinked in confusion, the scene before me surprising me greatly.

I lay on my side, Kara's slumbering form right before me, as I curved myself about my captain, clutching her head to my chest. On the other side, Chiho laid as her head slowly rose up and down as it lay on Kara's breast, her pillow's soft breathing causing my Ashikabi to bob up and down. The blanket was somewhere at our legs, crumpled and forgotten, revealing the scene before me in all of its naked glory.

This was exactly the same as reality! Or maybe this was reality and I failed diving into Chiho's mind? She's sleeping after all so maybe her mind is inaccessible during this time. Considering I haven't tried this before and the only one I could ask for advice, Archive is unavailable I am going to go with 'something went wrong, I failed.' It truly is a pity that I couldn't talk to Archive on this matter. Or any matter in fact. The voice in my head has been silent for a long time now after I threw a massive tantrum and basically ordered him to recover somehow so that he won't fall apart if I breathe the wrong way. I mean, it's great that he's rebuilding himself but him being in a comatose state right now really doesn't help-

"Rei…" A soft whisper broke me out of my musings. I focused my gaze at Chiho who awoke to look at me with tender, loving eyes that made my heart clench and blood to rush to my head. Something in her expression, in her voice, made me feel like I was reacting all over again. Before I could do more than open my suddenly dry mouth to lick my lips, Chiho leaned over Kara's naked body. Her action caused their intermingled sea of gray and light brown hair to flow, disturbed by her action.

"Thank you...for everything." Chiho whispered before she finished the motion and kissed me gently, the sensation igniting my body and causing ghostly blue wings to burst out my of my back, enshrouding our trio from the rest of the morning world. Surprised by the sudden boldness of Chiho, who's generally very timid in the beginning of our 'play' sessions, I couldn't do much more than moan softly from pleasure. A pair of hands began to touch and pet my body, somewhat unsure at first but rapidly gaining confidence and boldness. Astonished by this turn of events I decided to let Chiho take the lead for the first time in bed. Before it was always either me or Kara who had to heat her up to such a degree for her to forget everything, her inhibitions, fears and shyness. But now… now she started this herself for the first time. I mean, we could always tell when Chiho wanted some physical closeness or loving but it was always up to us to Start.

So when Chiho crawled over Kara's firm body and climbed onto me, pushing me to lie on my back, I wasn't sure if it was me humoring my Ashikabi or if I truly wanted her to take the lead all along. Regardless, it will be, at the very least, an interesting experience.

"Chiho…" I breathed out as the much smaller girl's hands moved lower while we both took a breath, ending the kiss for now.

"Rei, I love you." She said seriously, staring into my pale blue eyes with her warm chocolate ones. I felt my eyes widen as my body reacted to my Ashikabi's absolutely serious proclamation. "Always and Always, Forever and Ever."

"Chiho…" Before I could say more with my voice strangled by emotion, I was silenced once by a kiss, this one full of passionate love. My wings, still wrapped over us in a manner of a dome, intensified to such a degree that I couldn't see through them anymore as I laid on my back, straddled by my Chiho.

"My, my, isn't someone feisty today?" An amused voice drawled beside us as Kara raised herself on her elbows, her breasts jutting out tantalizingly. "What an interesting way to start the morning, hmm?"

"K-Kara-" Chiho stuttered as she stared at our Black Sekirei in a panicked surprise before I, taking revenge on earlier attacks, shut her up with a kiss.

"Hmm, to think you'd call me that." A thin smile snaked along Kara's lips as she rolled over and got up. "I think I'll join in…"

Chiho shook as Kara's hands snaked about her back and her eyes grew unfocused with a moan erupting from her. Suddenly, a crackling noise echoed out from seemingly everywhere. Both Kara and I stopped what we were doing and looked around on alert. The noise grew and suddenly, with the sound of glass shattering, the world around us fell apart in a kaleidoscope of color and sound. The sudden assault made me cringe and close my eyes. Strangely, the moment I did, everything stopped.

Carefully, I opened my eyes...and then shock opened them wider as I felt my mouth drop from what I saw. I was lying on Kara's bed, soft, broken light streaming into the room through the curtains. Lying on the bed beside me on her back was the owner of the room with her face tucked into my chest as my arms wrapped around it, bringing her closer. On Kara's right breast laid Chiho's flushed face, a thin trail of drool slowly trickling down Kara's soft breast. Much like the tomato red Chiho, I felt hot, my heart thundering and a wound coil below my stomach crying for release. I felt my legs twitch, the blanket sliding lower, as my thighs seemed to live a life of their own. Just what the hell…

"Tch, a dream." Kara grumbled as she opened her pale brown eyes. The moment she saw me, she frowned and then pulled back slightly to look down her naked body, her eyes snagging on the equally naked Ashikabi that laid partially on top of her. The girl in question, was starting to rub her lower body on Kara's leg, still firmly asleep.

"Or not?"

"Th-That was unexpected." I swallowed, trying to calm down, my throat parched. Seriously, what the hell just happened?

"Did you do something?" Kara stared at me, worry giving way to amusement quite fast in those lovely eyes of hers. "My, I knew you were much closer to Uzume and Haihane by nature than you admitted. Who knew that we wouldn't be safe even in our dreams from your lustful urges?"

"Kha-Kha." I choked on air in indignation. How dare she compare me to Haihane? "Th-That's not what I did! And it wasn't my dream to begin with!"

"Oh? Then who-" We both turned to Chiho who gave a final violent rub and moaned happily, her head still on the soft 'pillow'. "Nevermind."

"I was just trying to see if I can communicate with her mentally." I hurriedly explained myself, feeling that my war with my body was picking up pace as my thighs began to rub against each other, ignoring my attempts to stop. "But then I got pulled into her dream. I don't know how you go in though."

"I see…" Well, that's all nice and all." Kara stretched gracefully, a hint of fire lighting up in her eyes. "But I am a bit tired of being used here like a street pole."

"Eh?" Was all I had time to say before my lover pounced on me with a single fluid motion, Chiho rolling off onto her back, still asleep with a satisfied smile on her pretty face.

"My turn." Kara grinned.

* * *

><p>"Tch, when is our turn!?" Uzume grumbled at us, her face radiating as much jealousy as ours were radiating satisfaction. It was a very satisfying morning for all 3 of us. Not only did we have great time, we also teased Chiho into oblivion. Ah, the look on her face when she realized that we really did participate in that dream of hers was...priceless. Of course, we didn't spend the whole morning teasing, there were much more interesting and fun activities we could do after all. So it was no major surprise to both me and Kara as we sat at the table, waiting for Chiho to finish her bath, that the rest of our family was quite jealous of our fairly loud morning show.<p>

It was funny to see them huff and puff at us, no doubt secretly creating massive, complicated plans to get our Ashikabi for themselves. I don't particularly mind, after all, Chiho was Our Ashikabi and both Kara and I didn't mind sharing her with the rest of our family at all. Of course, if some random person from outside the Disciplinary Squad tries to hit on our Chiho...well, I am not sure if there'll be anything to bury afterwards. This reminds me…

"I am afraid it won't be today." I stated, my mood dipping slightly. The rest of the squad looked at me in surprise and confusion, unsure why I would say something like that.

"Chiho's mental state is...worrying me." I clarified and saw comprehension appear on the faces around me. "We need to do something. Last night she nearly broke down and if Kara didn't show up…"

"You had it covered." Kara denied, looking away as she did so, her face showing great thought. "But you are right, we need to do something, our usual strategy isn't working as effectively as we thought it would."

"To be honest, I always thought it was merely a takeholder until you guys figure out something better." Uzume frowned quite hard when she saw us look at her as if she suddenly grew a second head. "I...see."

"Erm…" Beni started to play with her side ponytail, looking lost. "A-any thoughts?"

"I pass." Haihane leaned back on her chair, balancing just on the edge of falling off as she put her hands up in a surrender motion. "I've never really been good at this business."

"You already have something, don't you?" Kara put her elbow on her crossed legs and placed her cheek on her hand as she stared at me blankly. "What is it?"

"Amusement park." I was deafened by the silence as everyone stared at me. Seconds later, agreement began to show up on their faces and Uzume and Beni even began to nod.

"That'll work." Beni said. "Chiho mentioned wanting to go to an amusement park a couple times when I talked with her. She said last time she'd been to one it was before she ended up in a hospital. So...about a decade ago?"

"Yea, she did mention wanting to go on a Ferris wheel one time." Uzume narrowed her brows, remembering. "That's right, you can see it in the distance from her room!"

"Amusement park…" Kara mused out loud, a vacant expression showing up on her face for a moment. "That should be...interesting."

"Let me guess," Uzume suddenly narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You want us to scout out the best out around."

"You would've been out of the tower for the day anyway." Kara suddenly said, her eyes returning clarity as she tilted her head to stare at the trio across from us. "We've been away for too long, you need to scout out the city and report to us on the situation this evening. While you're at it, look around for an amusement park worthy of our Ashikabi."

"But-" Unlike Beni and Haihane who had resigned looks on their faces, Uzume had not been around long enough to realize that when Kara orders something, it's to be done unless there is something truly important that could change her mind. So it's no surprise that she tried to say something only to choke when Kara narrowed her eyes at her.

"Is there something stopping you from patrolling the city and keeping an eye out for something that could make our Ashikabi happy?" Even though Kara asked in an even tone with a calm expression, Uzume suddenly paled and shook her head. "I thought so."

"Uhm, what will you be doing?" Beni asked and hurriedly explained as she found attention shifted to her. "I mean, generally we all go on a patrol but you are implying that it'll only be us 3."

"That's correct." Kara nodded. "We have business to take care of in the tower, don't we, Rei?"

"Yes." I stretched and looked up. "We have a few questions that need answers."

"Alright." Haihane stood up and picked up her claws. Unlike me and Kara, she didn't have to change to go outside of the tower, all she needed was toss on her Disciplinary Squad haori and she was ready to conquer anything.

"The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can return." After seeing both of us nod, the trio brightened up considerably and were out of the room in a flash, nearly steamrolling over Chiho in the process. Our Ashikabi looked at the slowly closing door and the rapidly disappearing curses and cries to wait with bewildered eyes and then turned to us with a silent question.

"They are off to patrol the city." I smiled good-intentionally. "Ah, what we wouldn't do with our Ashikabi as a prize."

"Y-You didn't!" Chiho stared at us in horror. We might've even bought it if her tomato red face didn't spoil the expression.

"Whatever." Kara stood up and grabbed her sword. "Are you ready? Let's go, we got places to visit."

"Eh?" Was all Chiho could say before I grabbed her and we were off, heading to one place we could get the answers we sought. Well, the one place where we could get them by asking anyway...


	64. Gate:Lunch

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Sorry for being late, but I'll post 2 chapters instead of 1. Equality has been reached.

Review Answer: All will be revealed...in due time. Don't worry, we are nearing the end so you'll find the answers you seek...soon.

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><p>"Come in." A sleepy voice finally answered our instant knocking as Kara, Chiho and I stood outside Takami's room. Opening the door, we were treated to the scene of a dead tired Takami sitting on a couch beside a sleeping Akitsu who was still wearing her clothes and holding a tablet on her lap. Takami, although awake, looked a lot worse with dishevelled clothes, big black circles around her bloodshot eyes and a shaking hand holding a mug of steaming coffee to her lips. Honestly, she looked like some sort of a shell-shocked Asian Panda Vampire that just got away from a brigade of very persistent Inquisitors. Compared to her Ashikabi, Akitsu's pale, nigh bloodless face looked like the picture of health. Really, the scene looked like the aforementioned Asian Panda Vampire sitting beside her ghost bride.<p>

"Well?" Takami rasped, sounding much like the prehistoric Vampire she currently resembled.

"Who are you and what did you do with Takami, you monster!?" I couldn't help but have a laugh at Takami's expense. However, when she just looked at me in tired confusion, I frowned.

"Chiho," I turned to my Ashikabi who also looked at the older woman with sympathy. "Give her a mirror."

Luckily, there was one on the table just beside us and, even though it was quite small, it did its job perfectly well. Too well, in fact, I thought as I had to catch the cup of coffee that went flying as Takami jumped a foot in the air and tried to flee from the monster in the mirror. Her panicked actions awoke Akitsu who instantly responded to protect her love by driving a foot long icicle through the mirror, deep into the concrete wall behind it. Thankfully, Chiho was just far enough away that the icicle didn't come close to hitting our Ashikabi. Akitsu next step, while we were turning to comfort shocked Chiho, was to take a look at Takami and instantly knock her out.

"Not bad, 7th." Kara smirked, the whole scene causing no little amusement to her. Akitsu ignored the grinning Sekirei and instead carefully laid Takami out on the couch she herself just vacated and covered her up with her own lab coat.

"Good…" Akitsu took a couple seconds to think before she checked the window and the sun that was fast approaching noon position. "Good morning. What are you doing here so early?"

"Good morning! How's it going?" Chiho smiled brilliantly, not even the scare that occurred earlier ruining her glowing appearance. Both Kara and I worked hard to achieve that when she woke up this morning in the middle of us being….busy.

"Right." Akitsu deadpanned as she glanced at the sun with narrowed eyes, causing us all to drop our cheerful appearances a bit. "Too much work, not enough time. We are still trying to figure out what happened to Minato. Then there is the matter of figuring out how those damnable cards that Minaka created work and devising a counter measure against them. And finally, the red core you brought in yesterday. This is, of course, not counting our own projects and what not."

"Sounds like you are working alone." I frowned as I sat down beside the Ice Sekirei who leaned on me instantly, a ghost of a satisfied smile on her face. "Why?"

"With Minato, only Takehito, Takami, Minaka and I know what Jinki are and how they work…some of us less so than others." She grimaced slightly at the last part and leaned in closer. I hugged her closer to my body, inwardly applauding myself for deciding to try and not wear armour in the building. It was fairly uncomfortable and quite annoying, but Chiho's delight at seeing me in casual pants and shirt for the first time so far nulled the inconveniences.

"As for the cards, Minaka banned everyone from helping us and keeps trying to get us to return them." Akitsu continued after a short pause, her voice sounding very relaxed. "And finally, the red orb you guys brought in. Do you know how much trouble it caused us? We cannot even figure out how to study it, let alone figure out what it actually is. It looks and somewhat behaves like a Sekirei Core, but it is not a Tama, it is something…alternate, something Alien."

"Uh…" I glanced at sympathetic Chiho and thoughtful Kara. Perhaps mentioning what happened last night is not the best idea right now if things are as Akitsu stated. They are busy as is!

"I can talk." Akitsu looked up at me with slight amusement on her features. "Come, let me get breakfast and we can talk on what troubles you so much that you sought us out."

"So, to the mess hall?" I pulled a face, thinking of the food served there. That isn't to say that it was terrible, but the MBI cooks had to serve the whole Tower and they had to do it practically 24 hours a day thanks to the lower levels of the Tower never really sleeping. So they took a few…liberties with their food. Nothing particularly major, but there was a reason that the entire Disciplinary Squad Always dropped in for Miya's cooking whenever we were in the area. Miya's godlike cooking more than made up for her dislike for us and the uncomfortable atmosphere she projected whenever one of us dropped in for some free food. Even Kara, who Miya really disliked, chose to put aside their eternal bickering for the duration of the meal.

"Uhm, maybe I should cook?" We all looked, startled, at Chiho whose cheeks turned slightly rosy at the astonished attention. "The kitchen is pretty good on our floor you know, I am sure I could make a decent breakfast."

"Our floor?"

"We have a kitchen?" Both Kara and I echoed as we spoke at exact same time, using the same surprised tone. We have a kitchen? On our floor? No, seriously?

"Yes, it's behind the bar that slides into the wall." Chiho explained, clearly surprised by our reaction. "I checked it already and it's well stocked and equipped."

"Uh…" I glanced at Kara who looked just as shocked as me although those who don't know her well won't be able to tell. None of us knew that we had a kitchen. Not like we ever needed it as the MBI Mess Hall was a couple floors down and none of us knew how to cook. Wait, how does Chiho know how to cook? Before becoming out Ashikabi she was chained to a wheelchair so…?

"Wait." I called out even as the rest of the room occupants, minus Takami, began to head for the door. "How do you know how to cook? Weren't you stuck in the hospital for a very long time?"

"Well, my parents were both avid cooks and renowned chefs in a couple high end restaurants." Chiho smiled sadly as she turned to me to answer the question. "In fact, they were both returning from a culinary festival in Italy when their airplane crashed. I didn't really start living in the hospital till several years after I buried my parents."

"So they taught you how to cook?" Akitsu asked softly, breaking the uncomfortable silence as both Kara and I stood uncertainly, soft melancholy and muted sadness slowly leaking into our Tamas from our Ashikabi.

"Yea," Chiho smiled wistfully. "They taught me while they were still around and when they weren't; I researched their notes and scourged the Internet for recipes of culinary dishes from all over the world. I wanted to grow up and become just as well-known as they were to pay a tribute to their memory. But… well, I couldn't really cook anything when I was in the hospital due to their rules. I still researched and memorised what I could but…"

"…I would love to try your cooking then." I smiled at the hopeful happiness Chiho felt. It doesn't even matter if her food is good or not, to have her show more of this emotion I'd lie a hundred times over… Oh wait, she can read our emotions like a book, hmm… Eh, whatever, I guess I'll just be honest with her, if it's good – great! If not, then maybe my feedback will help her improve.

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><p>As the three of us sat, waiting at the table for Chiho to prepare the meal, we talked a bit about unimportant things. Like how Beni, Haihane and Uzume all decided to randomly patrol the city today – both Kara and I decided to not mention the truth in case Chiho overheard as that would ruin the surprise. Akitsu, in turn, mentioned how Takami still occasionally goes out to have a drink with Homura. The fact that he's winged by her daughter only made the gray haired scientist watch the Fire Sekirei a lot more closely. Akitsu even laughed softly as she told us that the man complained to her that if his hair wasn't naturally gray, he certainly would be gray haired now. Akitsu knew this because she accompanied Takami nowadays everywhere. The city wasn't safe apparently, as several Sekirei were found assassinated in various ways – mostly from sniper round to the head. This topic slowly transitioned to Minato and just what the hell was going on with him.<p>

"We have never seen anything like it." Akitsu stated after a brief silence. "Minato completely absorbed the Jinki into his body and it is now completely merged with his circulatory system. So far, the only noticeable effect we noticed is that Minato can now sense the emotions of his Sekirei somehow if he concentrates... an incredible feat."

"Huh?" I glanced at Kara in confusion who also paused just as she was about to take a sip of water.

"What are you talking about?" Kara asked, raising an eyebrow. "What incredible feat? Chiho has been able to do that since the very start. Even before she winged us, she could feel Uzume's emotions."

"…" Akitsu closed her eyes tiredly and placed her head into her palms. "And you chose not to tell us of something incredible like this, because…?"

"Forgot at first and then we all got used to it." Kara shrugged nonchalantly. "It seems like a fairly normal thing for an Ashikabi to have."

"It is not normal." Akitsu muttered, her face still in her hands. "As far as we know only Minato and Chiho have this particular ability."

I frowned, thinking on Akitsu's choice of words. This 'particular' ability? Does this mean that-

"This…This changes Everything!" Akitsu exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts. "This information should greatly help us with understanding just what the hell is going on with Minato!"

"How so?" Kara asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice, a far cry from the real emotion I could feel within her. "How could the fact that our Ashikabi is firmly superior to the boy help him?"

"Because I think the Jinki is trying to mold him into a better Ashikabi!" Akitsu explained her theory with excitement clear in her voice. "The Jinki can change the Ashikabi too, not just the Sekirei!"

"Greaaaaaat…" I drawled before continuing with a sigh. "How long do we have till Minaka realizes this?"

"He won't." Akitsu visibly calmed down and tapped her lips in thought. "if you keep Chiho's ability a secret like before, no one will realise that she's a whole tier, so to say, above normal Ashikabi."

"I wonder though," The Sekirei scientist continued after a brief pause where she glanced in the direction of the kitchen. "Even normal Ashikabi have a very high chance of not surviving the death of their Sekirei. What would happen to Miss Hidaka, who is a lot closer to her Sekirei, if one of you falls in battle?"

"We will not." Kara stated simply as she stared into Akitsu's brown eyes blankly. "Our students are strong enough to handle almost everyone and those they can't, we will."

"Things Change." Akitsu noted with an odd inflection in her voice. "In the couple days you were gone, the 4th round happened on an MBI Cruise Ship with 3 Jinki being the stakes. Those who survived the fight and the destruction the ship are very strong indeed. Those who also managed to get a Jinki in the process, even more so."

"What happened?" I leaned in, interested to hear what we missed.

"Minaka offered a free for all to all interested aboard a cruise ship." I felt my eyes widen at the grim, thin smile that twisted the Ice Sekirei's lips. "Aboard said ship, were 3 Jinki and the battle was to continue until all 3 were found and claimed. Only a maximum of 2 Sekirei per Ashikabi was allowed."

"Who were the contestants?" Kara leaned in, a gleam in her eye.

"A total of 37 Sekirei and 29 Ashikabi participated, but I doubt you want to know about the dead ones." Akitsu grimaced as she carried on in her slow, cool style. "The major players were Sahashi Yukari, Higa Izumi, Seo Kaoru, Sanada Nishi. About a dozen more managed to survive the chaos that followed but I doubt you'll care to know their names. The winners were Higa Izumi, Sanada Nishi and Sahashi Yukari."

"Ouch…" I winced, imagining Takami's reaction as she realized that her daughter was going to advance and fight against other major players which just happened to include her older brother.

"Strange, where were Musubi and her Ashikabi in all of this?" Kara frowned.

"Did you really expect us to let the boy go after what happened to him?" The Ice Sekirei stared at the Black Sekirei incredulously. "Are you mad? When he is not in the lab, being examined by me, Takami and Takehito, he is under house arrest in Izumo Inn under Takehito's supervision. Minato did not participate in the 4th round and I doubt he will participate in the 3rd stage anymore at all."

"I see," Kara ignored Akitsu's insult and instead leaned back, sighing in disappointment. "Pity."

"And I am done!" Chiho startled us all as she came out of the kitchen with a giant tray in her hands laden with dishes. I instantly bounced up from my seat and intercepted the petite girl. My Ashikabi smiled in gratitude and went back in, clearly there was more. After settling down the 2 large trays of food, we were left with what, for humans, would've been a feast. We Sekirei, on the other hand, tended to eat 2 to 3 times more than humans. So the dozen or so dishes that lay before us, some steaming, others cold, were a healthy lunch or breakfast for us.

We stared at the dishes before us in wonder. Even I, who traveled the world with Kara and thus ate around, didn't know more then a few of them and could only guess a few more. Let's see… That's an omelet, a western dish. Beside it is an eggroll and a plate of sashimi is beside a plate of Russian blini or maybe it's the Western variant, the crepes? A bit difficult to tell the difference, I've only had either one a couple times in my life. Then there's some miso soup, a classic. Hmm, a plate of rice with a bowl of meat beside it in sauce, possible Teriyaki beef dish? Beside the Japanese dish was a plate of macaroni with meatballs, a generous helping of red sauce over the structure. Right beside it were potato pancakes with a side of sour cream. The last couple dishes I could recognise were waffles with several jars of jam on standby and a fancy omelette with what looked like small bread slices and bacon. Chiho also brought out a cut baguette, Russian black bread and some typical sandwich white bread in case we wanted any of the assorted meats or cheese that laid on a large plate beside the bread basket.

All in all, I think Chiho knows magic or something because there's no way she could've assembled all of this in an hour. When we all turned our stunned and awed faces to the Chef in question, the petite girl smiled and blushed shyly under our silent wonder. Akitsu was the first to break the silent pause by hesitantly getting herself a crepe and turning it into a roll with some salmon sashimi. The situation defused as all of us piled food on our plates and began to eat.

I… I felt myself conflicted. On one hand I needed to voice out my praises to Chiho as this food was spectacular! Perhaps not on Miya's level but this is very much debatable. Where Miya holds the unshakable crown of pure quality of her traditional Japanese dishes, Chiho has a vast quantity of slightly lesser food. While each dish is slightly worse than Miya's cooking, there's so many foreign and strange foods here that they more than make up for the slight drop in quality I think. I mean really, it's all down to the choice between godlike Japanese food or excellent food from all over the world. Honestly, a difficult choice for me to make. Aside from that, I couldn't praise Chiho because that would mean that a, I will not be able to savour this heavenly food at the time and b, Kara and Akitsu worked with the efficiency of hellfire in a dry forest, meaning that if my attention wavers I might come back to an empty table. Even now, several dishes already stood empty, their contents pillaged.

Thankfully, it seemed that Chiho was satisfied with watching us eat her food if the wide smile on her face was of any depiction. Oh I see, she was feeling our emotions through our bond and considering that I for one felt bliss and satisfaction… I am willing to bet Akitsu and Kara felt the same too. So, there really wasn't a need for words here, there's no wonder why her smile is so bright.

"You are now our cook." Kara finally stated as she wiped her hands, the smile on her face much like that of a cat that managed to stumble into the storage of 1st rate milk products. "I see no reason to eat anything else but your food."

"It was magnificent." I stepped out of the table and stooped over my amazing Ashikabi to kiss her on the cheek and hug her in gratitude, driving the already rosy from praise girl into red. "Please, cook for us again."

"Miss Hidaka," Akitsu stated formally as she laid down her napkin after wiping her pale lips. "Can we, that is Takami and I, join you at the table when you cook?"

"O-Of course!" Chiho, still red from my appreciation, stuttered from within my encircled arms. "I'd be happy to cook for you! You've done so much for us that anything I can do to repay you makes me happy."

"Ah…" Akitsu looked thoughtful. "It was of no trouble, it is our job after all."

"Jobs are payed with money." Chiho said seriously. "But because I don't have enough money to pay you as you deserve for what you've done for us, it's only fair that I cook for you whenever you ask."

"It is…" Akitsu hesitated, her autumn eyes roving over our Ashikabi's determined expression. "Very well. Thank you."

"Our Chiho can be quite stubborn sometimes, hmm?" I kissed the serious girl on her cheek once more, shattering her expression instantly. "That determination was one of the many virtues that drew us in."

"Speaking of her virtues…" Akitsu's face grew a tad more serious. "Chiho, your Sekirei claim that you can feel their emotions… is this true?"

"Um, yes." Our girl replied.

"Technically, we should be able to communicate mentally." I added and then felt a blush coming at what I was going to say next. "Except that the last time I tried to do that...well…"

"You…" Akitsu looked at my blush, at Kara's snicker and at Chiho who suddenly found the floor extremely interesting. "Nevermind, what happened when you tried?"

"We ended up participating in Chiho's wet dream." Kara's snickering turned into laughter as she mercilessly drove both of us into embarrassed silence. "Of course, the fact that I and Chiho were sleeping at the time might be the cause."

"...I see." The Ice Sekirei thought for a moment and then addressed me. "Can you try again?"

"Now?" After seeing her nod seriously while others merely looked on, apprehensive, I closed my eyes. After sitting down on the floor beside Chiho's chair, I focused on the bond that I shared with my Ashikabi. I carefully evaded the other bond that tied me to Kara as I submerged myself into the darkness that led to Chiho. Just as I was about to completely go under, I felt the chain that tied me to Kara suddenly shudder and shake before everything got cut off and I found myself in the same pitch black darkness as before. Only a golden, pulsing line that was my bond showed me the way.

Strangely, the resistance I felt last time was noticeably less this time around. I wonder if it's because this time around, Chiho is awake and aware. Regardless, with 1 final push, I stumbled out of the dark void and felt myself bathed in gentle warmth, sunlight seeping in through my closed eyelids. Opening my eyes, I felt stunned at the scene before me. This was my Ashikabi's Inner World?


	65. Gate:Tempio

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>I stood upon an endless, vibrant green field, my armour and my swords back on my person. Above me, an endless blue sky so pale it seemed almost see through stretched seemingly beyond the horizon. Everywhere I looked, small obelisks, white or black, riddled the ground in no order. They looked like… like memorial stones of a graveyard that spanned this entire world. Or maybe grave markers? As I turned around, drinking in the peaceful, serene atmosphere, I paused once I did a 180 degrees. Before me, a gigantic temple stood, reminding me of an Ancient Roman temple I once saw when I briefly visited Italy. Even the decayed and weathered stone looked alike. The awe inspiring structure was made of marble and stone, standing on a low hill, just far enough for me to see the whole thing without having to tip my head up. Looking down, I noticed that I apparently came into this world, facing away from the temple, at the very base of the stone steps leading up to the monumental architecture.<p>

Deciding to take a closer look, I stepped on the stone stairs, making my way up. As I walked on, a strange unease began to seep in, as if something wasn't quite right. Pausing, I surveyed my surroundings more carefully. The endless forest of white and black obelisks with contrasting Kanji on them, the gold sun in the apex of the pale blue sky shining down upon me, the vibrantly green ocean of grass… And then I began to notice things that made me frown. The obelisks were in a state of disrepair, some of them only a bit weathered while others crumbled and ruined, some of them even completely destroyed only a stump of shattered rock left. The marble stairs were broken and cracked, only parts of it in any decent shape. What was going on? This is Chiho's Inner World, the core of what makes her, her. So...by that logic, isn't it really bad to have something broken here?

As I looked closely at the ancient looking marble, my intent gaze climbed higher and higher, reaching the temple and I couldn't help but flinch. The majestic structure was in terrible shape. Both the stairs and the temple itself were built out of cracked marble and crumbling stone. The overall outer structure looked somewhat decent and the overall awe factor of the first impression allowed one to somehow just not see how terrible the actual state of the temple was. It really was strange, I mean, I could understand why the temples in the real world were in a terrible shape, they had to weather the elements for millennia after all, but this was Chiho's Inner World…

I'll make sure to think of this later, right now there was no point in standing around and pondering the subject here. I really should go and take a look inside what should be the Core of this world. Although, if this is the Outer Shell, I am a bit apprehensive of what the Core would look like.

I carefully made my way up, making sure not to break the crumbling and cracked stairs as I went. Interesting enough, there was a 'path' of sorts, snaking through the wide steps. Where most of the stone steps were in ruin, this 'path' was an unbroken series of stone in nigh pristine condition. I even got the feeling that someone looked after it… As I walked up the 'path', I found myself standing before a marble gateway, 2 gigantic doors or rather gates of some sort of metal that gently glowed under the sun's rays blocking my way in. The gate itself was… I blinked and stepped forth closer, stone crunching beneath my greaves, as I looked at the design that I saw each morning. Well, it was very close to the design anyway. A golden sun with 5 differently colored rays stretching out to join with 5 circles, each holding a unique image within, surrounded by darkness. A black sword, a Sekirei symbol hidden in a white shroud, red wings, pale blue flame and another Sekirei symbol that was engulfed in gray whirling winds.

I reached out to touch the gates, the design calling out to me and then was promptly startled when the symbol of pale blue flame flashed brilliantly and the gates swung open with no sound and the ease of a well oiled machine. Before me was a desolate hallway ending in a T intersection. I stepped forward, broken marble crunching beneath my boots, small clouds of millennia old dust slowly rising disturbed by my movement. I half expected the massive metal doors to close behind me with a startling sound and was rather surprised when they simply remained open.

Shrugging, I stepped forth, walking into the halls of broken stone. Although one could tell that the structure wasn't particularly brand new from the outside, it was the devastation inside that truly drove the point home. I think this was supposed to be an entrance hallway with statues and columns lining the central path at the sides with a series of brazers hanging from the ceiling to light the way. What I saw was shattered stone floor, cracked and broken columns, statues so crumbled that I couldn't make out any particular feature amidst the dust and pebbled marble. Occasionally I had to walk around the giant braziers that laid amidst the devastation, holes through which the sunlight seeped through indicating their righteous position. In fact, the roof was so full of cracks and holes that I even slowed down, forcing myself to move quieter, afraid that any loud sound would cause the structure to simply collapse on my head.

As I reached the intersection I noticed an interesting thing. Although the welcome hall I walked in from was completely devastated, the corridors that led deeper into the temple were… better. After a small internal debate I decided to go right as it was closer. Honestly, considering they both practically immediately sloped around the wall and conjoined into yet another hall, I think this was merely an obstacle to stop the ones in the welcome hall from seeing what was going on in the inner hall. I glanced about, noting that the inner hall was in a lot better shape. Less ruble, roof somewhat intact, there were more braziers still hanging from the ceiling then there were cratering the marble floor. The floor itself was in a well enough shape that I could even see the hexagonal pattern it was laid in.

I turned around and felt my jaw drop at the beautiful mural before me. On the other side of the T intersection there was a pristine mural of a pair of young people with a girl between them, holding their hands. I walked closer, studying the vivid image that looked incredibly in place where it should've by all rights looked out of place in this half destroyed temple. The man was clearly Asian, with black hair and eyes but the wide smile and the happiness his whole posture seemed to radiate mirrored the taller, light brown haired European woman that stood beside him. Both wore what looked like white chef clothes but there were no hats on their heads. And in between them, in a bright blue dress, was a young Chiho. The mural made it seem like the 3 of them stood at the entrance of this temple, the metal doors closed behind them. In fact, it was so detailed that I really believed this illusion for a second until I touched the wall, reaffirming the fact that it really was just a mural.

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at the magnificent mural of the happy family. But eventually I took a step back and then another and then I finally turned, mentally promising to the painting that I would do everything I could to have that smile on Chiho's face appear as often as possible. As I slowly made my way down the hall, I took my time to examine the statues now that most of them were somewhat recognisable. Surprisingly, most of them were European kids. There were some that looked like they could be family members of the Asian father but, surprisingly, there were none that looked like they are the family of the European mother.

As I walked on, a sudden rustle caught my attention. Looking down, I saw what looked like an old newspaper, torn and rotting, beneath my feet. When I picked it up, it was unsalvageable but a few things could still be made out. The 2 main page photos were that of a plane and another was a satellite picture of an ocean with circles and lines all over it. The article was written in a language I couldn't read but the letters were like those of English. Hmm, some European language? I glanced back at the mural behind me in thought. I wonder, what nationality was Chiho's mother? Still more things to ponder… However, for now I should move on. I laid the paper down carefully at the feet of a nearby statue of a European boy whose statue was surprisingly well intact aside from the missing arms. Moving on, I approached another gate, this one much smaller than the main gates in the front but it still looked quite monumental with it's solid metal framework. Also, unlike the main gates, these were plain silver with no engraving of any sort on them, just seemingly solid plate of silver. Upon touch however, it swung open soundlessly, blinding me with the sunlight it held at bay.

Blinking, I stepped forward, my left arm trying to ward off the sun intent on blinding me. As I felt the doors close behind me, I stopped, waiting for my vision to restore itself. After the soft gloom of the inner hall, this bright sunlight was practically equivalent to a flashbang and gods did I hate those things. True I only got actually hit - it quite literally exploded on contact with my face - by a flashbang once but it was an experience I never ever wanted to feel again. I stumbled into Spirit Realm that time and just laid there for about 5 minutes, recovering. Thankfully, there wasn't a sound part to the flash I was currently recovering from.

When I finally lowered my arm and could see, I felt my eyebrows rise in wonder at what I saw. I stood at the top of a massive set of stairs that descended though what looks like about a dozen stories down to a small arena. I stood at the top of a massive coliseum and unlike the one I saw briefly in Italy, this one was whole. Rows upon rows of stone benches encircled this crater like structure only breaking once they hit the majestic set of stairs I stood at the apex of. At the very bottom of the arena, I could make out what looked like 6 statues, 5 of them standing in a pentagram such that that the statue at the top of said shape was directly opposing the stairs and me at the top of them. The final figure stood at the very center, facing me. It was kind of strange, the 5 statues faced the central one while the one in the center poised to face off the stairs.

Yet, as I stepped forward and began to descend, I noticed that, much like the temple itself, the first glance was quite...wrong. The whole monumental awe it inspired once more twisted the initial impression. The reality… well… the second look made me frown. Everywhere I looked, I saw blood stains and smears. Each row of benches looked like who ever sat on them was brutally massacred and then dragged away somewhere. There were no bodies, just blood, dried and fresh everywhere… Everywhere but the stairs I slowly descended by. In fact, these marble stairs were a pure, unblemished white without any flaw, either structural or ornamental.

I felt...unease as I walked down in silence only occasionally interrupted by solitary drips whenever a bit of the blood still fresh dripped from the benches it covered. The whole scene was almost perfectly still, a hot sun in the apex of a bright blue sky, the blood covered coliseum, the windless space was...for the lack of a better word, odd. I didn't feel uncomfortable being here, there was a strange sense of being home here but at the same time I felt unease at what I saw. But soon, I put all of that behind me as I was now close enough to make out the statues.

Enthralled, I somehow skipped the process of getting down the stairs and when I came to my senses I was already at the very bottom, only a step away from entering the arena. Before me, stood the 3 meter tall statues of my family. I almost stepped forward onto the arena before I halted and stared at the floor with wide eyes. This wasn't a floor! It was a lake of blood that rose all the way to the statue's knees! I mistook it for red marble from above and it was an easy mistake to make as the completely still surface looked like a matte red mirror that reflected everything above in a heavy, dark red tone.

I swallowed and hoped that this wasn't some bottomless pit that would drown me the moment I stepped in. It was quite possible as this was Chiho's Inner World after all and it played by her rules. Hesitating, I chose to instead look at the statues once more. Now that I was this close, I could see that each one of the 5 statues surrounding the central one had see through streams of something flowing from their chests into the center of the statue standing in the center. Each stream was uniquely colored, a red, a black, a gray, a blue and a white; each one was unique to a stream and to the statue they came from.

Glancing at the red lake before me once more, I quickly prayed to who ever was listening and carefully stepped into the pool of blood. I grimaced as the heavy liquid went all the way to my thighs, just lapping under my crotch, and slowly sloshed my way over to the central statue, trying to figure out what it was. As I suspected, it was Chiho...just dressed up in a bizarre amalgamation that made it difficult to recognise her from afar. My Ashikabi stood ready, clad in my red and gold armour, clutching Kara's sheathed nodachi by the center with her right hand while her left was locked inside one of Haihane's claws. A white cape streamed down her back just between a pair of crimson wings that stretched out as if preparing to take flight. Much like me, Chiho didn't wear a helmet and her long light brown hair streamed down like a waterfall down the brilliantly white cape. I don't know how long I stood there, just standing in awe at the badass statue of my Ashikabi. How long I stared at the pure determination chiseled on the statue's face…

"What a fascinating place." I whirled around, spraying the crimson liquid around me, to stare in utmost surprise at Kara who casually jumped into the bloody depths. Right behind her stood Chiho who looked at the liquid in dubious disgust.

"Wha-how?" I stared at my captain, unable to understand just how she got here. I mean, I got here because Archive devised this as a way for us to meet face to face and I merely adapted it for my Ashikabi but how did Kara get here?

"I just focused on our bond that we got yesterday and somehow ended up here with Chiho." Kara shrugged as she finally stopped to stand beside me, examining Chiho's statue. "I don't particularly know how it works though and I think I accidentally dragged Chiho in here as a tag along."

"I felt a...pull? It was a bit weird, like something was pulling me from inside and suddenly I was standing with Karasuba before this temple." Chiho finally stepped into the pool of blood, her desire to be with us overwhelming her repulsion for the crimson liquid that we stood in. Of course, the fact that, unlike me who wore airtight armour and Kara whose boots reached her thighs, Chiho materialized here wearing the same white dress I first saw her in at the hospital and that she quite likes wearing.

"...Really?" Kara raised an eyebrow as I stood, shock momentarily stealing my ability to speak. Chiho stood before us on top of the crimson surface as if she stood on a matte red marble that this pool looked like. It was a bit unfair how she could walk on top of the pool of blood while we had to slosh through it. On the other hand, this is Chiho's Inner World. Here, she is God and King rolled in one. Of course, she doesn't particularly know how to control it but apparently her repulsion of having to wade waist deep in blood was so high that the world responded to the unstated wish of it's maker.

"Where are we anyway?" Chiho finally asked as she stood before us, taller than us for the first time, on a liquid that refused to act as it should for her. "What is this place...it feels so like… home."

"All of this," I sloshed around in 360 degrees, my arms wide as I gestured to the world around us. "This is all you, my Ashikabi. This is your Inner World, your mindscape."

While Chiho stood, stunned and muttering to herself, I turned to look at the final piece of this arena that I didn't have a chance to look at yet. The statues around Chiho's statue. I wondered if the arrangement meant something and if it did then what? Before the central statue and beside the landing stood a statue of me on the left and statue of Kara on the right. Then there was a statue of Beni to the right and slightly behind Chiho, statue of Uzume directly behind and finally, statue of Haihane to the right and slightly behind the central statue. Strangely, all of the statues bar one were poised as if preparing for battle. My statue stood in my usual stance, it's swords at the ready. Uzume's statue already had the arrow drawn and ready to fire, the tip pointing just above the head of the central statue. Haihane and Beni were both in their respective stances, both ready to rumble with Haihane ready to 'hug' people with her claws while Beni looked like she was about to begin her Shock Charge. Kara's statue was an anomaly in comparison. It's posture looked relaxed, an almost bored expression on it's face and it seemed to simply radiate a commanding presence.

"So?" I was interrupted from my admiration by the real Kara's voice. "What now?"

I glanced back and noticed both the Black Sekirei and our Ashikabi look at me with interest.

"Well…" I drawled, remembering what Archive told me about communicating mentally and how we experimented on this. The steps and changes I planned out to adapt it to fit me and my Ashikabi. The bond that we shared wasn't as close as that of Archive and I. Changes had to be made and now, I was about to see just how well my skills in this mental field played out.

I absentmindedly wondered why Chiho suddenly paled and dashed to hide behind Kara but then dismissed it as inconsequential. There were so many things to try...

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><p>To Readers: I am actually quite interested in what you think Chiho's Mindscape represents... It'll give me an idea if I managed to give you the view of how I see Chiho properly or not.<p> 


	66. Gate:Telepathy

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: My my has it been a while... My sincere apologies, stuff just kept happening and happening and happening... Regardless, as this is my first day off in a while, I used it to transfer 3 chapters at once which I'll proceed to post over 3 days starting with this one. Enjoy!

Note: Also...MORE Sekirei stories popped up here while I was away! I approve! At the same time, I am sad...wtb more Sekirei-as-MC! Srsly, why is like almost no one writing anything using Sekirei as the protagonist. I personally don't like Minato...my face still hurts from all the facepalm moments of both anime and manga. But in all seriousness, why write about Ashikabi when Sekirei are sooooo much cooler/better?

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><p>"How did it go?" Akitsu asked the moment she noticed us arriving back into the real world. "Can you talk to each other mentally?"<p>

"Let's try…" I focused on the bond to Chiho and tried to calling down it mentally. 'Can you hear me?'

"Y-yes." Chiho said with no small amount of surprise on her face as she looked at me and then frowned in concentration. A torrent of mixed emotions with a vague 'can you hear me' streamed into me from our bond. So she can do it too, somewhat. Well, nothing a bit of practise won't fix. Hmm...now that we know that the algorithm works, I should probably offer Kara to do the same sometime…

"We can talk to each other telepathically!" Chiho said with a pleased smile, excitement clear in her voice.

"It's quite difficult..." A brief frown passed through her face before it was replaced with excited determination. "I'll practise until I get it right though!"

"Hmm…" Akitsu hummed as she leaned back in her chair in thought. While she was thinking and Chiho was slowly gathering dishes from the table, an occasional stream of vague thought passing down the bond as she tested this new ability, I tried to something else. Archive could show me pictures and even movies to me. Hell, he could even implant bits of himself as memories so now I really wanted to see if I could do anything more than a simple hello. I recalled the scene we saw before last mission where Minaka, Takami and Akitsu had a fight. Then I focused on sending that memory down to Chiho...except that I missed and ended up trying to force it down the channel that connected me to Kara.

I was quite...surprised when Kara frowned and looked at me strangely. It seems that my captain got at least something from what I had sent...fascinating. In fact, I thought as I watched Kara turn to Akitsu who was still deep in thought as she slowly rotated a cup of coffee in her hands, I think it'll be quite simple to establish the connection I seek with my lover.

"Akitsu." Kara leaned forward and tapped the aforementioned Sekirei on the shoulder when it became clear that the scientist left the real world. "When you and Takami confiscated Minaka's cards, he said some very interesting things. Yet, your behaviour states that you knew of them already. What are you hiding from us?"

"Hiding?" Akitsu shook her head slightly. "Not hiding. You were busy and so were we. Could not use 3rd party such as email or paper for this."

"I am sure we wouldn't have minded if you told us during our training or something." I shrugged, confused slightly. Did she think that whatever she had wasn't particularly important? Knowing Akitsu, that's the only logical conclusion I could come up with.

"It is not particularly important." Akitsu verified my thoughts. "We managed to find that the Sekirei Plan was not Minaka's initiative. Although it is true that he is the administrator, he is not the one behind the idea."

"How could this be 'not particularly important'!?" Chiho dropped the tray she just picked up in exasperated surprise.

"You need to win the Sekirei Plan." Akitsu replied in a surprised tone, as if she couldn't understand what riled us up so much. "Does it matter who is truly behind it? The system and the rewards are the same regardless of this truth."

I glanced at Kara and had to resist the urge to roll my eyes when she didn't respond. It was Kara's idea that we don't tell Akitsu and Takami of our real wish. So of course the scientist duo would think that this information was irrelevant for us, we had never showed anything that could say otherwise.

"Do you know who it is?" Kara asked and then frowned when Akitsu shook a negative.

"We tried to ask Elizabeth and Takehito about it." That Akitsu didn't mention anyone else ment that this secret was very high up there. I mean, it's implied by the fact that Akitsu and Takami didn't think that anyone else would be worth asking.

"Elizabeth was just as surprised as we were while Takehito…" Akitsu paused slightly, something passing through her eyes briefly, before continuing. "Takehito frowned and stated that now it makes sense why the original S. Plan was turned into this perversion of itself."

Strange, why did she pause for a split second there? What was that emotion I saw in her eyes? It was so brief...both of them were so brief that now I am beginning to question if they really were there, perhaps its that thing called paranoia starting up? Regardless, before I could figure out if I wanted to press the issue or not, Akitsu spoke up.

"May I know why you are so interested in this?" Akitsu asked the obvious question, her posture seemingly relaxed but I could see her tense up.

"I-It's because after we win," Surprisingly, while I was trying to come up with an excuse and Kara was thinking on something, it was Chiho who spoke. "We will protect the Sekirei. And if there is someone out there who thought that this 'game' was a good idea...we'll end them."

We all looked at the seriously determined Ashikabi that stood before us and I was reminded of the statue of her, standing knee deep in a lake of blood…

"I understand." Akitsu relaxed once more and smiled. She gave one of her very rare full smiles that wasn't just her mouth corners but she showed her white, even teeth as the smile stretched on.

"You can count on my help with this matter, Miss Hidaka." Akitsu looked positively dangerous as she sat there, smiling at my Ashikabi. "I too want to see the one who orchestrated this dead."

Suddenly, a melody like strong wind whistling through a large tree erupted, causing us to look around in confusion that was solved the moment Akitsu dug out her phone.

"Yes. Having lunch. Soon. You did what." Akitsu's annoyed tone suddenly turned rather angry, the temperature dropping several degrees as frost began to etch itself along the metal case of her phone. "Evacuate the lab and seal it. No one is to go in. If I find that anyone went inside before I get there, a new ice sculpture will be decorating the premises starting immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

"I am sorry, but I must go." Akitsu put away her frozen phone with a deep sigh as she turned to Chio. "Thank you for this most wondrous food. I hope you can invite Takami and myself the next time you cook."

"Is everything alright?" I took one of her cool hands and squeezed it gently in support.

"Not really," Akitsu smiled at my gesture and hesitantly withdrew her hand as she headed towards the door. "I did say that there are too few qualified and loyal scientists to work the labs. Thank you for this excellent moment of rest, but I must go before they screw up something else."

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><p>With the exit of our main information source and knowing that we had to distract Chiho from trying to contact the trio we sent for reconnaissance, Kara and I decided that we should practise this telepathy thing and figure out its limitations. Several hours and a couple massive migraines later, we all laid on Kara's bed with incredible headaches. Turns out that talking mentally is quite stressful on the mind, the 'greater' the message so to speak the greater the headache. For instance, simple mental communication only took concentration and had no noticeable effects on the mind. When I tried sharing a memory with Chiho though… I nearly passed out and had to grab a tissue for a massive nosebleed. I am not sure how I managed to pass the fragmented memory to Kara mere hours ago without nearly dying in the process, perhaps its the fact that her bond to me is different?<p>

Anyway, I could, at most, send single clear pictures to Chiho, paying with a massive mental pain spike for the transfer. Thankfully though, the pain cleared away within seconds allowing me to pass up to 4 images a minute… provided I am ever in a situation where I want to nearly pass out and have my vision darken for a few minutes afterwards. I seriously feared that I damaged something in that test run as having partial blindness due to swimming dark spots was quite scary. When I tried the same with Kara, I found that instead of pain, I acquired massive mental fatigue when trying to transfer images and memories. A single segment of not even 10 seconds of memory almost made me pass out from tiredness that just crashed down upon me like a tidal wave. I spent a good 15 minutes simply recovering from that, unable to force my body to even move afterwards.

And my results were the best out of us 3! Chiho couldn't even pass a single clear image to either me or Kara, it always arrived fragmented and Chiho just laid there, whimpering softly, clutching her head afterwards. We didn't even try sending memories for the fear that she'll damage her mind somehow. Kara on the other hand could send pictures and they arrived quite clear, but from the massive nosebleed and how her face turned pasty white, we could all tell that it took far too much from our Captain to accomplish even that much.

Finally, we tried to do mental communication during battle. Kara and I fought while Chiho tried to talk to us and we tried to talk back. Thank god we had the presence of mind to use wooden practise swords that laid, gathering dust, in the far corner of the room we used to practise in. Chiho, unlike Kara and I, communicated in a completely different way. Unlike Kara and I who sent clear thoughts with a possible underlying emotion, Chiho sent her emotions with an underlying thought. It wasn't too much of a difference in normal communications, but in this situation where Chiho's emotions were high… It was very disconcerting to suddenly feel a great amount of fear, hesitation, love, worry and determination in the middle of trying to dodge a sword. For the record, my ribs prove just how distracting that was.

"Hey Kara…" I called out lazily, still fighting the fatigue, as the 3 of us laid on her bed, content to just lie in each other's company after this torture...erm, training session.

"Hmm?" Kara hummed as she twisted her neck to face my way, Chiho's head occupying her stomach even as my fingers slowly ran through our Ashikabi's long light brown hair. "What is it?"

"Did Chiho tell you about Wesker?" I tilted my head to look into her beautiful pale brown eyes.

"No, Aizen did." The Black Sekirei turned her face towards the ceiling. "I don't mind the ceasefire for now, we do have more important things to focus on. But I am interested in meeting this Wesker character later. From what the boy told me, he'll be a worthwhile fight."

"Do you think we can trust his...no, their words?" Chiho asked quietly as she laid on her black, her eyes also on the white ceiling. "It's Umbrella after all… I… I really don't like what they've done."

"I think He can be trusted." I replied with a special emphasis. "I am not sure about the rest of Ouroborous, but I think Wesker is sincere. He is very much like us in his goals."

"We don't know his goals. He might be lying." Chiho sighed sadly. "Umbrella did so much grief and damage and now they want to ally? They don't seem to have a good track record of being particularly loyal to anyone."

"To be fair," I muttered. "They didn't do anything to us, to Sekirei."

"I am not sure if that makes them good people." I somehow got the feeling that Chiho rolled her eyes. "Look at Uruma."

"This reminds me!" I even sat up from the burst of energy my realization gave me. "I investigated the Umbrella versus Americans fight in Uruma yesterday as something didn't seem right to me. Did you know that Umbrella snuck roughly 50 thousand or so undead out of the city via a tunnel?"

"They did what!?" Chiho yelped, turning pale.

"How did this happen?" Kara asked, puzzlement in her voice. "Are you saying that humans are even less competent than even I thought?"

"I'll mail you the video later." I replied watching as Kara got up and stretched, my mouth suddenly going dry as I got captivated by her silhouette in the rays of the setting sun. "Khm, but the short story is, they hatched some sort of a giant worm that made a hole a couple dozen meters wide in the ground."

"Oh come on!" Chiho grumbled as she too crawled out, tossing glances at Kara, her face flushed. "As if that Cthulhu thing they had wasn't enough, now they have Dune Worms!?"

"I don't know what this 'dune worm' you speak of, but-" I replied, slightly annoyed that I didn't get the reference only to be interrupted by a thoughtful Kara.

"Tremors…" She said, almost as if to herself. "A worm that big must cause tremors in the ground as it moves."

"You want to use a seismograph to track them?" Chiho seemed to catch on to our Captain's train of thought.

"Yes." Kara nodded slowly, still thinking hard on something. "Just track them for now."

"We do have a ceasefire for now after all." She turned her head to glance at me over her shoulder, an amused smile on her lips. "More importantly, we are on a break."

"But what if they strike?" Chiho asked with concern clear in her voice as she glanced at the city behind the panoramic window.

"I somehow doubt that that will happen." I walked forward to stand beside my Ashikabi even as Kara strode over to join us. "Umbrella is in ruins, it's core is on a run. As it stands...I don't think they'll try to ruin any chance they have of an alliance this early on."

"This really doesn't solve the problem of a massive army of undead roaming somewhere under Japan." Kara stated plainly, a thin smirk on her lips. "I am interested to see just what Ouroboros wants to use it for."

"Tch." I frowned. "It's like we are missing pieces of a very large puzzle. We aren't seeing the whole picture."

"Hmm….OH! I know!" Chiho hummed before suddenly brightening up and dashing over to crouch by my armour that sat on its special stand in a corner. "Dai! Hey Dai! Answer me, I know you hacked Rei's armour!"

"Uh…" I looked on bewildered as Chiho kept calling Dai. I mean, ethics of Dai hacking my armour to keep me under 24 hour surveillance aside, it was a solid idea. Dai is currently in America, keeping an eye on the world as she is slowly rebuilding the base, maybe she has some of the information we are missing. So yea, it's a good idea...but...I really hope she doesn't spy on me 24/7.

"W-wh-what is it…" A huge yawn finally answered Chiho and the familiar hologram of a red haired girl in red pajamas appeared, rubbing sleep out of her eyes cutely. "D-do you kno-aw what time it is here? It's-augh, 4 in the morning…"

"S-sorry Dai." Chiho stared at the hologram with an odd expression on her face as if she was mentally restraining herself from something.

"Good morning Dai." Kara sat down across from the hologram, a small smile wandering about her lips. "We have a few questions for you."

"Morning little sister!" I smiled teasingly at the redhead as I sat down beside Kara. "You may have heard of the mess at Uruma. Can you please tell us about any suspicious activity related to it or perhaps anything strange going on nearby?"

"Uruma?" Dai muttered to herself, clearly half asleep. "Uruma...ah...that zombie place. Uhm…"

We watched as she turned and typed something with unbelievable speed.

"Well, the front news are that congress approved of temporarily increasing Okinawa attachment from 50 thousand marines to 150 thousand including all sorts of tech." Dai finally turned back to us. "Majority of those troops are already en route by air and the rest including armour…"

"Hmm...really?" Dai once more leaned over and started typing. "Interesting...the rest are coming via the Third Fleet which has been rerouted to reinforce the Seventh Fleet that is currently stationed at Yokosuka."

"Yokosuka?" Chiho grew concerned. "Isn't that a couple prefectures away from here?"

"Approximately 70 kilometers." Dai nodded. "This is strange though, cause, even though the troops seemed to have arrived to Okinawa, the US Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force seem to be gathering at Yokosuka. That's the rally point of the Third Fleet as well."

"When will they arrive?" Kara asked quietly, no smile on her face for once.

"The Third is expected to arrive in 4 days while the JMSDF is supposed to finish assembling in 3 days." The red haired Sekirei replied, her fingers blurring over the keyboard. "The official statement is a precautionary measure against this 'zombie outbreak'. Let's see what else…"

"Some economic news or rather doom sayings due to Umbrella sudden disappearance creating a power vacuum in the American biological sciences market…" Dai turned back to us and yawned cutely. "Th-that's about it mnya...was there anything else?"

"Yea, can you call more often?" Chiho smiled at the young girl. "We want to know how our little sister is living over there, if she needs anything."

"I-..." Dai blushed as she looked downwards. "Th-thank you. I am fine for now...I can wait until this Sekirei Plan is over and then... then we can be together, right?"

"Of course." I grinned at Dai's red face and waved. "Go to sleep! Have a good night, little sister."


	67. Gate:Pieces

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Ah yes, reviews, how I missed thee.

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><p>After Dai disconnected, Chiho went to prepare dinner and Kara joined her to fill our Ashikabi in on what we talked with Akitsu about during lunch when she was busy cooking. Meanwhile, as they got busy in preparation for Beni, Uzume and Haihane to return from their 'patrols', I thought on the situation with a tablet in my hand. Before Dai broke off to catch some sleep, she sent me the information she dug up. Now I was perusing the articles for the fourth time, a feeling that I was missing something important digging away at me.<p>

Let's see… Umbrella draws the Disciplinary Squad to Okinawa. Wesker declares a ceasefire, sacks and burns Uruma and then escapes via a worm, taking half the city in zombified state with him. Meanwhile, Umbrella disbands and simply vanishes overnight, sending the World Economy - the North American even more so - that it occupied so firmly, into chaos. The USA manages to survive the night with incredible stock losses with companies going up in smoke and new ones popping out of nowhere and making billions over the night that some are now calling the Void Night. Not sure why they are massing their forces over here though…

Wait. Why is the date on the redirection order nearly a week ago? Uruma happened only 2 days ago yet the orders are clear. USA planned to increase its presence in Japan significantly...in advance. Are they perhaps planning to storm Shinto Teito that MBI finally completely bought out 10 days ago? Or maybe they want to set up a perimeter in order to blockade Shinto Teito? Or maybe they knew and approved of Uruma in advance..?

I pulled week old news onto my tablet and skimmed through news titles. Let's see… this might be it, 'US announces joint exercises of Third Fleet and JMSDF'. So the meeting place was to be Yokosuka. Was this supposed to be an intimidation attempt? Or are they pulling forces in for a direct assault? Or maybe it's paranoia… No wait, paranoia does not apply if they really are out there to get you. MBI recently did really piss off the Yankees with the torching of CIA and product embargo to USA after all. Which actually sounds even worse now that Umbrella disappeared off the market. I mean, it was always Umbrella and MBI that dominated that particular market and now… Minaka did something that prevented any MBI products to be sold to USA and asked the rest of the world to do something against the American aggression too. I still can't believe just how much influence the White Clown hold in the world...

Hmm? What's this? An email from Dai? ...Is she insane? The email must be tracked by MBI by this point, just what happened that she'd risk us all?! Wait, deep breaths… Okay...now, let's take a look at it a bit more calmly. Dai is Unmatched in the computer field - being a former AI and all - there must've been a way for her to do this and not get caught. Still, this better be damned important or she'll get it for making me worry...so...really?

No...really? This...is this Minaka's answer to the Americans? What the hell, even I with my limited knowledge of world history know that this won't end well! Not to mention… Just what the hell did he offer the Russian President to do this? I mean, really, sending the entire Russian Pacific Fleet to do 'long term deep ocean exercises' which just happen to be on the tip of Japan's waters? I am sure it's entirely coincidental that the place they will practice at will be the shortest straight distance from Shinto Teito without them actually invading. In fact, after reading the second paragraph of Dai's short email, I was sorely tempted to just toss the tablet out of the room and forget I ever read this... this... Whatever, now I Really want to know what Minaka offered the Russians for this.

"Khm...Khmm...kh..khahahaha!" I couldn't hold it and lost it, rolling around on the bed laughing, clutching the tablet to my chest. I tried, I really did...but those last few sentences just couldn't be stopped. Minaka really decided to play hardball here with his Clown attitude. Only he would ever think of pulling something like this off. I mean really. The White Clown declared that he was expanding to Russia and for that he hired a couple thousand Russians to be ground staff such as janitors and cleaners. The fact that they just happened to be Russian army men just days prior to the mass hiring was just coincidence, really. The fact that MBI also just happened to buy 2 thousand Russian rifles and modern infantry armour and gear was also just coincidence, as Minaka suddenly decided that he wants MBI to...hmm...to use Russian gear?

Interesting, that kind of a deal would certainly be quite a large bargaining tool. Not big enough to pull off what he did but… Still, this is just pure genius. I mean, the best part is, no one can do shit about it! Everyone 'knows' what this really is about but no one can do anything against it! Minaka owns all of Shinto Teito and the Japanese government legally allowed him to own and operate a private army on his territory. I don't know what he did to get that right, but it certainly is ridiculously useful right now. That and the fact that the inbound Russians are not part of the Russian Army anymore - even if they are for all intents and purposes - allows Minaka great freedom. I mean, if anyone - not just the Americans - attack, they'll most likely hurt the Russians who are undergoing the MBI 'staff training' and then the Russian fleet who just happens to be only kilometers away will have full jurisdiction to help 'evacuate' their countrymen.

Seriously, this is amazing! I wonder what kind of a face the US Navy Commanders had when they were told that the Russians will be doing full fleet 'training' just several kilometers away from them, in direct range. Yea...when Minaka said he'll do his own part dealing with the Americans he wasn't joking... I just hope that whatever he promised won't come and bite us in the ass later.

Minutes later, Kara laughed with me while Chiho smiled uncertainly as if she didn't know whether to laugh or frown. Unlike us 2, she wasn't particularly happy with the game of chicken that Minaka decided to play with USA and I can understand her thanks to what I know from Archive. More than 3 quarters of a century under occupation by the Americans was no joke. I think the closest example of what Chiho felt right now would be if she watched a couple people she knows mock the prison warden. A debatably decent warden but one that will still kill you if you screw around with him. And now, Chiho, who grew up with that prisoner mentality watched her dogmas burn as suddenly the Americans weren't these all-powerful overlords somewhere unreachably far. Instead, other people, Japanese no less, opposed them and - to her great surprise - were at the very least even. Heh, she'll grow out of this eventually. Americans may be powerful - the most powerful nation on Earth - but at the end of the day...they were merely human. And, more importantly, they are humans that keep getting on our bad side. Already she's quite accepting that we, and she by extension, regularly go out and fight Americans in one way or another.

Also… I frowned as I caught my thoughts. Mere humans they might be, but there's a reason why they reign as unquestionable supreme beings of this world. A single human may be worthless at the end of the day - most of the time, think of Minaka. But we take a dozen, a hundred, a thousand, a million, a billion… Their potential - both destructive and constructive - is unlimited. The more humans are working together on something the more progress is made and it's not linear by far… Had enough humans known about us and wanted us gone, we'd be gone. Simple as that, we can't fight billions of beings with tens of thousands of years of progress aiding them. Definitely something to remember when we go back in time… Sekirei will have to stay behind the scenes in the shadows while puppet companies - hello MBI - do our bidding.

Of course, there's some good in this. Even I was starting to grow arrogant towards humans. Knowing that, albeit as a singular unit we were unquestionably superior… as a race we were just as unquestionably inferior. Anything we can do, any powers our Tama's give us, can be recreated with enough Science. Anything is possible after all. Not to mention… There's always that 'thousandths of a percent' as Akitsu calls them. Humans who have transcended reason and became something more. The Specialists are a fine examples and the Specialist Captains...well… I sometimes doubt that they are even human anymore.

As I thought, I watched Chiho quit her dilemma and instead go finish up dinner and now she was calling Akitsu to get the science duo to come over for some great dinner in a circle of friends. Barely had she put down the phone when a very familiar trio burst in through the main door, Haihane and Uzume neck to neck in their race while Beni came in a couple seconds later.

"I win!" Both the Blue and the Silk Sekireis cried out synchronously only to instantly drop their jaws at the food laden table, their eyes growing gigantic in size.

"Did you rob a restaurant? Or several?" Beni asked after catching her breath. "Looks absolutely amazing!"

"Nope." I grinned at their confusion and then nodded to our pink Ashikabi. "Chiho cooked all of that."

"What!?" The trio chorused as they stared at Chiho who progressively reddened from the awed attention she was getting.

"This is incredible!" Beni recovered first and dashed over to Chiho, folding her hands in prayer. "You can teach me, right? Please? The field rations that MBI gives us are soo bland!"

"Uh…" Chiho stared at the begging Red Mist for a second blankly much like a deer caught in a car's headlights. "Um, sure?"

As Beni, and a whooping Haihane, grabbed Chiho for a spin out of happiness, I couldn't help but smile in relief myself. I even caught Kara smile in anticipation, no doubt imagining eating Chiho's delicious dishes during missions or something. Although the field rations MBI provided were very fulfilling and restored energy like no tomorrow, they were quite…bland. Nevermind, you could eat cardboard for the same taste, that's how bad they were. While Kara and I got quite used to this unfortunate reality, Beni and Haihane were loath to do the same. Uzume is lucky she only did one mission with us and even then she complained about that snack on the train we had before we assaulted the platform. Seriously, it's so bad that even Beni tried to cook! Truth be told, she at least didn't blow up the kitchen, nor did she burn what she tried to make but...khmm, cardboard can apparently taste better then some things. So if Chiho can fix whatever she's doing wrong...mmm…

Much to our collective surprise, the door opened once more to reveal a determined looking Akitsu practically dragging in Takami, much like a parent would drag in an unruly child. It was such a surreal image - to imagine Takami as a troublesome child - that we all paused whatever we were doing and took a second to reassure ourselves that this was reality and no, it wasn't about to suddenly freeze over. Kara and I recovered first and watched with no small amusement as Uzume and Haihane, who both stopped their odd wardance with Chiho, reach out to pinch each other synchronously. Barely had the door closed that it opened once more, this time to reveal Aizen with Saki hovering just behind his shoulder.

"I hope we aren't late?" Aizen asked nonchalantly, raising an eyebrow to stare at the squirming Takami. The woman in question, still in her lab coat, looked much better than the zombified version we saw this morning. On the other hand, she seemed to be full of workaholic tendencies as she softly argued with her Sekirei to let her go so she could go and 'make sure that those imbecilic idiots born of donkeys and apes didn't fuck up anything else'. She said a lot more than that but I kind of got lost after the initial sentence… Was the rest of what she said even Japanese? It certainly didn't sound like any language I knew. Eh, what ever, must be unimportant sciency stuff, seeing as Akitsu waved her arguments aside and forced her to sit, making sure to take a seat right beside her to prevent her troublesome captive from escaping.

"Nope, you're just on time!" I gestured to the table with a smile. "Take a seat."

The next hour we all ate, had light discussions and laughed. It was nice, a pleasant company and delicious food mixed quite well together. Chiho managed to stack her dishes in such a way that as time passed on, she occasionally left with a helper or 2 and came back with just finished cuisine. At the beginning it was a bunch of appetizers and light stuff like sushi, snacks and salads. Then the main course arrived and now we all drank various drinks - some chose alcoholic while I drank some black tea - with a wide arrangements of deserts. Truly, Chiho is a wizard of some sort to pull something like this off. I have long lost count just how many times our cook and her food was complemented.

The main star of the evening was particularly happy when Aizen suggested that she should open her own restaurant and promised to eat there every day at least once. Our Ashikabi admitted, in a small and embarrassed voice, that that is her wish after the end of the Sekirei Plan. To live in peace and cook delicious food for her family and friends. When she noticed her Sekirei frown at this, Chiho smiled and said that a wish is something to strive for, something she'll put all of her efforts into achieving no matter how long it takes or how twisted the road to her wish becomes. Her statement reassured us that, although Chiho did have a wish to live in peace, she is willing to put it on hold for us, for our goal.

After that, the conversation turned to what we'd all do after this mess called the Sekirei Plan is over. We all know that everything will be decided in mere days from now and it was interesting to hear what Akitsu, Takami, Aizen and Saki had to say. Aizen went first, nearly causing his Sekirei to faint from embarrassment when he claimed that he'd get Saki pregnant and then continued to state that he'd name their son Sosuke and their daughter Kyoka. I think Aizen dodged a bullet with Saki here only because she just couldn't decide on what to do: faint, run away or beat the hell out of her infuriating Ashikabi.

Considering Saki was indisposed, Akitsu took the next word.

"I want to figure out and ensure our species doesn't go extinct in any way." Akitsu stated clearly, solid determination in her cool, slow voice. "Oh...and I want to give birth and raise Takami's and Rei's children."

"..." I felt my mouth drop open as we all stared incredulously at Akitsu who looked as calm as an iceberg. Err, I mean, I would understand if Akitsu wants children from Takami…but...from me? I mean...really?

"So it's like that." Kara leaned forth and stared into Akitsu's brown eyes.

"Yes." Akitsu stated calmly, her gaze unyielding.

"Very well." Kara leaned back with a smirk after a minute and once more everyone's jaw dropped. Chiho choked on air while Uzume and Haihane both showed thumbs up in support, gigantic grins on their faces. It was only after I glanced at Beni who looked like she was hit in the face by a wet fish that I remembered to close my mouth. I… I honestly didn't know how to feel about this. I mean, I know I should be flattered that Akitsu would like to do this with me but… I don't know. I just never really looked that far into the future. There's a reason why Chiho's words nearly drove me into depression last night. I've always thought my future was quite clear: win the tournament, go back in time and… well… I've never somehow thought beyond that point. A few vague thoughts like making Takami babysit Minaka and use him as an idea generator and general manager while Sekirei rule in the background. But...nothing really concrete. From what I know, there will be only 1 pair left in the very end, 1 Sekirei and their Ashikabi. But...will I want something like that?

Probably not, so if offered a choice between going back alone versus staying here with my family...the choice is obvious if painful. Still, the question remains though, what would I do if I stayed here, with my family...with Akitsu? Hell, do I even deserve this? Honestly, I'd have to say no. I love Kara. At the same time I love Akitsu… Yet, even though I spend as much time as I can with my captain…I can't say the same for the Ice Sekirei. I would love to but there's always something in the way, be it a mission for me or vital research for Akitsu. I guess... I guess I'd like to spend some - or maybe a lot more then some - time after this is all over just...getting to know Akitsu a bit more. Spend time with her, perhaps do something that'll make this guilty feeling of not being worthy of her love go away.

Thankfully, I was pulled out of my incredibly embarrassing thoughts by Haihane's rather childlike dream of eventually defeating her Teacher. Surprisingly, Kara treated her wish seriously and nodded with unusual seriousness. Uzume's dream was a reflection of Chiho's. The Silk Sekirei wanted to simply live in peace and enjoy life and all of it's aspects with her Ashikabi. Her confession of wanting to be a clothing designer met little surprise from our group, she designs her own clothes after all. I was a bit interested by the lack of surprise on Aizen's part as he nodded enthusiastically and even suggested Saki as a model...with him as a judge of course.

Surprisingly, Saki shared the same dream, although she did stutter that it'd be nice if her Ashikabi was less infuriating. And instead of being a clothes designer she wanted to be a theater actor. Quite unsurprisingly, Beni also wanted to live in peace and quiet with her family, just a simple, normal life. I nodded solemnly to this, remembering just how much my cute little sister hated screams of pain and death. I choked when she admitted to wanting to learn to play guitar though. That was unexpected, I thought she'd want to do singing or something. I did hear her in the shower a couple times, it wasn't bad at all.

And then came my turn during which I...well…

"I…" I paused, wondering what should I say, my thoughts scrambled. "I really hadn't thought about what I'd do after everything is over. Umm...Maybe spend some time with my family? With Akitsu?"

And it was the truth as far as I knew. I'll follow Kara and Chiho but… well, I did think what I'd do if I refuse my wish, but what will happen if it turns out better than I thought? What if this wish allows us all to go back? I mean, if that happens...what then? Dreams are supposed to be these unreachable things you just keep striving to but what happens when they are realized? I mean, as far as I'm concerned mine is truly unreachable as it has no fixed ending point but... Really, what do I do with an arbitrary, less than real, dream?


	68. Gate:Eternity

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>The sound of the door closing brought me out of my thoughts as I looked up to see that all our guests have left and it's only us, the Disciplinary Squad left. Everyone else was in the kitchen, according to the noises, leaving only me and Kara at the empty table. Somehow I ended up lying on the couch, my head on Kara's lap as her fingers slowly went through my spiky light blue hair. What just happened? Why was I so out of it that I didn't even notice the conversation wrap up?<p>

"Welcome back." I twisted slightly to look at the woman above me who was giving me one of her very rare tender smiles. "So what's your real answer?"

"You know my dream is unreachable." I sighed, getting comfortable. "There will always be something in the way of Sekirei that will need solving. Even after we win and go back, there will only be more work and more conflict to solve. I...I really don't think my dream can be achieved."

"Well," Kara smirked. "If you listened to the actual question, you'd know that it was actually a question of what we'd do after the Sekirei Plan is over, not what we'd do once we reach our dreams. It is true that for most Sekirei it's one and the same though."

"Ah." I felt my cheeks redden as I realized that I somehow ended up with thinking completely off topic and made a fool of myself.

"But I am glad." Kara's smile turned grateful. "That my faithful lieutenant will stay by my side, helping me."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You only wanted to have a good fight, didn't you? There's no reason to do this, to follow me on this eternal path. You deserve a rest and a good life with Chiho-"

Kara interrupted me with a great laugh, causing me to watch in confusion as my lover fell back on the couch.

"Oh Rei." She finally stopped laughing and patted me on my head as if I was a child that just said something adorably stupid.

"Do you really think we'd let you go off on your own?" She continued, a big smile stretching her lips as she looked at my perplexed expression. "Even after we've ensured the Sekirei survival, upraised the humans and I got my good fights, do you think I'd just up and leave afterwards, leaving you alone? I promised to build a Utopia where we can all live our dreams, didn't I?"

"Chiho would never leave any of us anyway." Kara continued after a brief pause, staring at the kitchen from which laughter and excited talking emanated from. "And the rest of them would go with her. So we are one until the last one of us achieves their dream, no matter how long it takes, no matter what it is."

"So...you'll stay with me, aid me," I swallowed my throat suddenly dry. "Forever?"

"Of course." Kara smiled tenderly once more before her expression changed into a foxy one. "How could I be a better Pillar then Miya if I had abandoned my Feathers?"

"Eh, wha-?" I felt like a kid that got caught just as he was about to make off with the proverbial cookie jar.

"Um...right." I turned aside, my cheeks positively glowing red from embarrassment. Of course I didn't really expect Kara not to figure out that I've been gently pushing her to become a Pillar instead of Miya once we go back but it's still hell of a lot embarrassing for me now that the rabbit has been pulled out of the hat.

"I really don't mind." Kara began petting my hair again, her eyes becoming distant. "All my life...I seeked power and worthy foes to use that power on. Again and again, I've reached a new peak, a new height and new fights became available to me."

"But…" Kara lifted one of her hands out of my hair and a sickly dark gray ball of miasma instantly spawned, hovering calmly above her palm. "I feel that I am nearing my limit. I am more powerful than any Sekirei, what is there left for me to reach?"

"After I take the Sekirei Throne from Miya and become the Pillar of the whole Flight...new horizons will open to me." Kara clenched her hand and the ball of miasma broke, dissipating practically instantly. "I will have new enemies to fight, new peaks to conquer. As a Sekirei Pillar, my enemies won't be weakling humans anymore, but rather entire countries, civilizations...races."

Khmm, I think Kara's ambitions might prove a bit steep for us if this is the path we'll take. I particularly don't like how she wants to...wait, 'races'? Hmm…

"We need humans and we need them more or less intact as a civilization." I drew Kara's pale brown eyes to myself as I spoke. "The Sekirei race is far too small to rise beyond the heavens and challenge others. We need the humans. To increase our numbers by using Umbrella's tech. We need their industry to get out there. We need them, Kara."

"I know." Kara nodded with surprising indifference. "There will always be conflict and humans will always try to fight for their 'freedom' to kill each other in peace. Humans will be merely the first of many who will fall under my rule. But under the same rule and with your help, we will will put the saying that the Universe is Infinite to the test.

"Are you with me?" Kara asked, her eyes boring into mine.

"Where else would I be?" I laughed softly. "Under your command, my dream shall be realized, sooner or later."

"Only if we get to pick the name of our future Empire." We turned upon hearing Uzume's voice to see the rest of our family stand at the door, listening in.

"We'll get holidays, right?" Beni sighed, her acting almost making me fall for it. "I really want to hit the shops occasionally."

"Really?" Haihane grinned and then slapped Chiho's behind causing our Ashikabi to yelp from surprise. "Well, while you spend those holidays hitting the shops, I'll hit this fine ass right here myself."

"H-Haihane!" Chiho reddened immensely, clutching her butt protectively. "This is serious! Kara wants to become the Dark Lord and take over the entire universe!"

"...So?" Haihane shrugged nonchalantly. "Teacher always wanted to take what's hers. I don't see anything new here. So long as she doesn't start making weird Anagrams of her name and become obsessed with immortality, I really don't give a damn."

"Did you just reference-?" Seeing Haihane throw a wide grin her way Uzume cracked an equally wide one herself. "Damn nice."

"There's no need to worry about immortality for me." Kara replied slyly, her eyes flickering over to me.

"Oh yea," Haihane scratched her head in realization. "I mean we are Sekirei after all, we got that part covered."

"What do you mean?" We all turned to Uzume, our confusion mirroring her surprise in magnitude.

"What, didn't you know?" Beni tilted her head to the side, unsure if her fellow Sekirei was serious or trying to joke again. "Sekirei don't age. We are effectively immortal."

"What!?" Chiho and Uzume chorused together, their eyes wide. How odd, it seems like they really didn't know this. I thought this was common knowledge…

"Wait, you really didn't know that a Sekirei's lifespan is only limited by their Ashikabi?" Haihane asked her usual partner in crime incredulously. "No, seriously?"

"If the rest of my minions are as clueless and empty headed as our Veil," Kara sighed theatrically, fake melancholy on her face. "Then you have nothing to worry about my dear Ashikabi. My incredibly dark and evil plans for universal domination will never come to pass."

"So if it wasn't for me," The small girl muttered, her brown eyes turning downward. "You'd live forever?"

We all exchanged glances, not quite sure what to say to this. On one hand, she's speaking the truth, on the other, we are Sekirei and she is our Ashikabi. That's all there really is to it.

"Wait!" Chiho frowned in thought and looked up. "Akitsu said that Minato's case proves that the Jinki can change Ashikabi too! So can't we use it to give immortality to Ashikabi too?"

"Maybe." Kara turned serious as she looked at Chiho as if trying to decide something for herself. Finally, she nodded to herself and, with another glance my way, continued.

"Would you spend eternity with us though?" She stood up, shifting me aside, and took a step towards our Ashikabi making her suddenly surrounded in a circle of sorts of her carefully watching Sekirei. "Will you stay with us for literally ever? We Sekirei say forever and ever because we mean it, it's what we are."

"We will love our Ashikabi to the end, to our death." I picked up the conversation, pulling myself up to sit on the couch, understanding and agreeing with what my lover was doing. Ever since that dark night after we all visited the island I knew this will eventually happen.

"Can you devote yourself to us, eternally?" Haihane asked forcefully, her face and tone completely serious as she leaned in slightly, anticipating the answer.

"Can you once more watch the world pass by you?" Uzume whispered softly, an odd emotion in her eyes. "See those around you age and die while you stay perfect? See entire dynasties and eras pass by before your eyes?"  
>"We will stay by your side regardless of your decisions." Beni added as Chiho looked at us like a rabbit at a pack of prowling wolves. "Our Ashikabi."<br>"I...I…" Chiho's eyes darted from one Sekirei to another non-stop. "I need to think about this! Excuse me!"

"Huh…" Haihane tilted her head with a sigh after she stepped aside and watched Chiho dash to her room. "And here I thought she'd say yes right away. "

"Chiho is not… She's not a big a fan of the being 'left behind' business." Uzume said sadly as she looked at the closed door behind which our Ashikabi hid. "Whether it's the world passing her by as she's lying sick in bed or watching the same world move on as she's locked in time…"

I nodded to this. I still clearly remember the tiny girl, wasting away in the hospital with no hopes and ready to die at any moment. It kind of hurt my heart just remembering those days and I bet she had a flashback to those hopeless times too just now. Truly, it's unfortunate that this happened, but there's no helping it. I'll have to wait until her answer so that-.

"Enough of this depressing bullshit." Kara waved aside the somber atmosphere and addressed the trio standing by the kitchen door. "Did you do what we told you?"

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><p>While the rest of the Disciplinary Squad slept soundly, both Kara and I sat on the edge of the MBI Tower roof, watching as the nearly full moon slowly rose into the night sky. Or well, I watched while Kara thought on the information Dai's email offered. The fact that we also received an email from Minaka telling us that the Disciplinary Squad will escort Takami and Akitsu who will greet and take charge of our Russian reinforcements also caused some thought. Why would Takami, the Chief Director of MBI Research and Akitsu, the MBI CRO be put in charge of a couple thousand grunts? It truly didn't make much sense. Although MBI chain of command clearly stated that if something happened to Minaka Hiroto then Takami Sahashi will take charge, neither Kara nor I could see any reason for that to happen.<p>

Aside from the fact that Minaka is a very careful bastard who, although he does get hurt often as he annoys the shit out of Takami, would never actually put his life in mortal peril. We, the Disciplinary Squad, will defend him with our lives if need be. Unwillingly and with a great deal of anger at the fool, but we'll never let him die. Not while his life is tied to the wellbeing of our race. All of this meant that we must be missing something. Why would Minaka waste precious time of 2 extremely important scientists? Why would he hand over a couple thousand Russian soldiers into the care of said scientists? Although Akitsu showed some defencive tactical command skills during the Second Invasion, Takami was a civilian through and through. Kara, before we went into this thinking pause, mentioned offhandedly that the weapons and gear were all specialized for Urban Combat, specifically for defence.

So, Minaka believe that, for some reason, Shinto Teito will come under siege and he won't be on the premises at the time. I'd like to think this is merely precautions but after a bit of digging on the internet and a bit of quick mental math even I, who was quite far from the whole money thing, felt my mouth drop at the estimated price tag of what the White Clown pulled off. I seriously doubt that he'd simply throw away a pile of money with so many 0's if he didn't actually believe something will happen.

There's also the possibility that he did this to distract the 2 brilliant minds from their research. Akitsu did mention that some of the things they are researching, the Clown is very much against. But then it again doesn't make sense because Takami and Akitsu aren't stupid. Far from it! They won't directly take command over the Russians, they'll just ask their commanders if they need anything done. Tch, what a dilemma, why would-.

"We hadn't really had a chance to ask Akitsu or Takami about what happened last night." Kara suddenly spoke up, throwing my thoughts into disarray from the suddenness of the topic change. I leaned away from my captain's shoulder upon which I rested my head and looked at her in surprise, taking a few moments to compose myself and remember just what she was talking about. After a pause I had a brief pulse of annoyance, how could she just ignore the very suspicious stuff happening around Shinto Teito? Then I suppressed it and quickly realized that for Kara, regardless of what she said about wanting to be a Pillar and ruling the universe, the suddenness of yesterday's events must've really thrown her off. It's one thing to prepare for something in the future and another to have it spring up on you before it's time.

"...Does it honestly matter?" I finally answered, leaning back in and embracing the Black Sekirei tightly. "You've always been my Pillar and always will be. I don't care if what I did yesterday meant that you're a pillar now or not. For me...no...for us of the Disciplinary Squad, you are our Pillar and we'd follow you to the World's End and Beyond."

"So it's really happening…" Kara said softly to herself and I could only hear her because I was so close. "Looks like that joke about becoming the Ruler of the Universe is a joke no more."

"Do you think the Americans will attack?" I asked after we fell silent for several minutes. "Or am I being paranoid?"

"Americans?" Kara hummed a bit before answering. "Maybe. Maybe not. It honestly doesn't matter, Rei. The Fourth Stage in bound to start any day now that all Jinki have been distributed. If they attack, we'll simply annihilate them once more."

"What do you mean, 'all Jinki have been distributed'?" I asked, confused. "Isn't there still 1 left?"  
>"Ah, I knew I was forgetting to do something." Kara reached into her blouse and pulled out a crystal on a chain. "I'll have to give this to Chiho tomorrow."<p>

"Wh-? H-How!?" I choked on air in surprise as I stared over Kara's shoulder at the jewel. It's a first time I've seen one up so close - that time that Takehito almost died doesn't count as he was all over it trying to do something. The 10 centimeter long, eight edged crystal looked like an octagonal bypiramid except that the top pyramid looked like it's top was cut off at the base, leaving a smooth surface while the the bottom pyramid was intact and looked rather long with a very sharp looking point. Then again, considering it impaled Minato through the shoulder, I bet that the tip doesn't just 'look' sharp. Deep inside the see through crystal a dark red orb laid that glowed softly. Upon the top of the blunted end of the Jinki a number 6 was drawn in Roman numerals.

"Minaka gave it to us as a reward for our 'service to MBI'." Kara smirked as she quoted the White Clown. She watched casually as I reached out and traced my fingers gently on the the crystal. It felt like touching warm glass except that it was much much smoother. As my finger slid down, it encountered no resistance at all, almost as if I was tracing it on air rather than a crystal. Also, I am not sure if the warmth is it's innate property or it was like that due to being between Kara's breasts this whole time?

"So…" I pulled my hand back and merely stared at the Jinki in awe now - to think that this tiny shard of ephemeral see-through crystal had such power over us." Does that mean that Stage 4 begins any moment now?"

Kara nodded in answer and lifted the Jinki in such a way that we could see the moon through the small crystal. It was quite a fascinating sight actually, the crystal amplified the light passing through, making it seem like we are looking at the moon through a very powerful telescope. The inner glow corrupted the image though, giving it the color of freshly spilled blood.

And so we sat on the edge of the abyss, my Pillar and I, looking at the close moon in all of its red tainted glory.


	69. Gate:Amusement

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Hmm, it looks like I am getting some time off next week, let's see if I can catch up on the Transferring the story from paper to my laptop in that time...

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><p>Today, Kara and I managed to rise before everyone else even though we went to bed hours later than them. Or, at least I think we went to bed later than them. For all I know, they were busy last night showering Chiho with appreciation...among other things. Quite possible really, considering Kara and I were too focused to really feel out our bond with our Ashikabi. Yeah, it'd make perfect sense actually, considering the state Chiho was in yesterday. It's quite preferable if my suspicions are right and Uzume, Beni and Haihane - in any combination - had spent the night with our Chiho.<p>

We both geared up, I grabbed my armour and my twin blades that have faithfully and unfailingly served me for years. Kara once more only chose to wear her standard blouse, leather miniskirt, thigh leather boots and her Captain's Disciplinary Squad haori. Her nodachi, made by the finest MBI technologies and augmented by Kara's power was tough enough to survive practically anything thrown at it. While it was nowhere near as durable as my blades made of the same metal the Sekirei ship was, it served its functions well. In fact, aside from my Gates, which see no difference between the strongest metals and paper, I doubt there are many things that can even scratch Kara's blade. That and Kara actually grew to care for her sword. Gone were the days when I could force a technical draw by destroying her weapon. Now Kara watched over her and protected her blade as if it truly was her right arm.

As always, we started off solo, running through training exercises to warm up our bodies and fully wake our minds. Slowly at first, but rapidly gaining speed, we both ran through the training exercises that Dietrich taught us. Even now, years his death, the German blademaster continued to be our mentor. Although the techniques and styles he showed us were vastly different, considering he taught me dual wield while Kara learned the art of using a 2-handed blade, we still taught each other. I learned how to fight with a single sword in case I ever lost one while Kara learned the basics of not accidentally killing oneself if there was something in her off hand. This is, of course, not counting the fact that we both learned how to counter opponents using said styles a lot more effectively now that we knew them inside as well as outside. Truly, Dietrich's teachings, both the strengths and weaknesses of both styles, were very helpful.

As my body ran through one of the most advanced exercises Dietrich showed me, my mind wandered, the object of my musings whirling in a high pitched hurricane of steel before me as her speed surpassed my eyes and all I saw was a literal vortex of wind and metal. When we go back...Dietrich will be there, alive and full of strength. Although the thought of seeing the one I considered to be, at the very least, a beloved uncle figure alive once more warmed my heart… it also sent my mind into turmoil. Kara… I believe she loved Dietrich. Not like a Sekirei loves an Ashikabi, no. It was much like what I feel for Kara and Akitsu. I love them both very much and just imagining life without them sends a graveyard chill through my body but… Without Chiho, my life is meaningless. For any Sekirei, no matter how much they love someone else, their Ashikabi will Always be on the forefront of their emotions.

If Kara sees Dietrich again… I don't know. When Dietrich was still alive, Kara was trapped in the notion that she must only love her Ashikabi and no one else. That fundamental thought conflicted with her feelings, causing her great internal pain. But then came I and Yume began to drink to support me...and thus Kara became the target of Yume's drunk love rampages. Yume's love for everyone began to wither and dissolve the fundamental pillar Kara had of keeping herself only for her Ashikabi. But it didn't fall in time and both Dietrich and Yume died. It was I who finished what Yume started and it was thanks to our efforts that Kara became more open with her emotions and a bit more calmer but by then it was too late. Now though… what will happen if Kara meets Dietrich again? Will the steadfast German be the same man of unbreakable steel we remember him as? What will happen if the 2 of them meet? Will...will she-.

"Are you ready?" Kara's calm voice pulled me out of the light trance I sunk into. Upon gathering my bearings, I nodded and dashed forward, my blades glowing blue. Kara merely slapped them aside before her blade, generously coated with gray miasma, slashed towards my chest. I stepped back, letting the deadly long blade pass by and charged in once more.

Kara was an unreachable goal for me, her skill combined with her body's characteristics made it impossible for me to even touch her, let alone beat her. But that's what I am here for, isn't it? To try and try again. To push myself to and past the limit, fighting an impossible sparring partner. On the other hand, my constant improvement forced my Captain to push herself and better herself too. Although she is head and shoulders above me in combat, my dangerous Gates make it impossible to relax. It is impossible for me to touch her...because she forces herself to stay untouchable, knowing that all I need is a single solid hit to instantly end the battle. Even the smallest of mistakes, the tiniest of errors, could cost her a limb if not her life. She admitted that I make an excellent sparring partner. Dangerous enough to force herself to evolve to keep herself out of danger yet harmless enough that she can beat me if she just pushed herself a bit. An endless loop where we just grow stronger and stronger. Although the knowledge of each other's styles and patterns hampers that growth a bit, we still improved.

I sat up with a vince, recovering from Kara's blow that made it through my guard and blasted me back halfway across the rather spacey arena. I got too focused on Kara's miasma coated blade and suffered for it when my sparring partner kicked me. Thanks to my armour, instead of hitting the hospital with mushed insides, I was merely punted across the room, winded and with an excellent bruise forming to drive my mistake home, but battle ready once more in an instant.

Strangely, Kara walked over, sheathing her sword as she did so, the gesture meaning that we are done for the day. Puzzled, I stood up and approached my Captain, wondering why the session was cut short.

"...They are awake." Kara replied after a brief pause in response to my silent question. "We should get ready."

I nodded but then hesitated. It really looked like Kara wanted to say something else first but then changed her mind. It was quite strange for Kara to do something like that.

"Later," The woman in question smirked when she noticed my hesitation. "After we return."

It was still strange for Kara to do something like this, I thought as I followed her into the shower. My Captain tended not to do any of this second guessing stuff. Exceptions being when a new factor suddenly comes into play still apply of course. Not sure if this is one of those moments though. I mean, what could've changed over the seconds that Kara stopped and sheathed her blade? I could tell that she wanted to talk to me seriously or ask something important and instead she merely turns around and mentions that our Ashikabi is awake. Maybe it was the fact that Chiho was now awake? But what could Kara's intentions have to do with our Ashikabi? It's not like Chiho could interfere or something… Whatever, I guess I'll have to wait till evening to find out.

"You ready?" I asked, a grin forming on my face as I watched a pile of limbs and bodies that fell out of Chiho's room start to unravel.

"Ready for what?" Disheveled Chiho asked, blowing hair out of her face, a curious expression coming to life on her face as she glanced between me and Kara. That curiosity intensified drastically as she took in our appearance. While Uzume didn't care about battle gear, considering she could create whatever she wanted on the fly and thus always wore normal clothes that blended into the crowd well, we… well; we didn't have that kind of leisure. Beni was the closest as she wore a short kimono that stopped just above her knees over her suit. While Beni and Uzume could fit into the crowd spectacularly well, Haihane, Kara and I couldn't do this at all. Although Kara's clothing was fairly normal, if risqué, the giant sword strapped to her waist and her haori kind of ruined the whole 'blending in' thing. Granted, Kara usually didn't blend in anyway, thanks to the heavy and dangerous presence she constantly exerted on everyone around her. She carried herself like an Emperor amongst the plebs, her arrogance well deserved. While we were used to her presence and ignored it, when Kara traversed the crowds, there was Always a meter and a half radius bubble of free space around her, no matter how crowded the area was. People just couldn't bring themselves to approach the person their instincts screamed to get the hell away from and avoid attracting her attention. Haihane took after her Teacher quite a bit as well. Although the bandages she stores her power in are quite difficult to ignore, her attitude of a 'Noble amidst dirty, smelly peasants' is very effective at preventing her from blending in too. She even had her own bubble of free space too, as people tended to stay the hell away from her. Haihane grew annoyed when in crowds and when our Blue Sekirei was annoyed, people near her felt as if there was something incredibly sharp swishing about, missing them by just a fraction of a millimeter. I've had quite a few laughs when people would suddenly roll out of the way, dodging a phantom feeling, and causing a scene when they crashed into other people.

Still... more importantly, it was the sight of our Captain without her haori, and more importantly, without her sword really jarred Chiho. So much that the fact that I was wearing a simple white sleeveless blouse and black pants and that my blades were also missing didn't particularly register for her. I wonder what she thought when Haihane decided against her bandages as she stood before us in white pants and white long sleeved shirt. I actually noticed my eyes linger on her top longer than they really should have. Now that Haihane didn't hide her bust with her bandages, it really stood out more then it logically should've.

But, now that we're all ready, let's not waste time. Shall we?

"Surprise." Kara smirked as we moved in.

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><p>I looked outside the window, lights from neon street signs and lampposts flickering across my face, my tired eyes sliding past the crowd hurrying about, trying to get home before nightfall. Even now, it was rapidly darkening as the sun's rays slowly ascended up the skyscrapers of this urban jungle. I glanced over my shoulder that was occupied by a sleeping Kara at the rest of my companions. Unlike Kara and I, who sat aside by the window, they all piled up closely together on the backseat, limbs and bodies in one giant pile as they slept soundly.<p>

We were all tired from the excitement of the day… I just couldn't sleep for some reason. I felt tired more emotionally than physically and maybe that's why I couldn't sleep. I trained my body mostly for stamina anyway in order to be able to travel around in heavy armour and swing my blades. Now, that stamina left me the last one standing as even Kara has less stamina than I do. Granted, she could use her power to augment it but considering we were just having fun, she saw no reason to and was currently napping on my shoulder.

And so I sat, staring at the slowly emptying city. Right now, it wasn't so bad but 2 to 3 hours after the sun completely sets, these streets will be completely dead. Although the occurrence of recent Sekirei duels and fights decreases dramatically, they increased just as much if not more in their intensity. The times when weaklings fought or when Sekirei feared to fight due to crowded streets as that would bring our attention have passed. Only the strong remain now and the weaker ones that still live banded together in groups, hurriedly training to become something more than utter cannon fodder. Citizens of Shinto Teito have learned the hard way that night hours, when most Sekirei choose to prowl, are off limits. This whole system was a pain to set up, honestly. Forcing our kin to realize that we wouldn't come out during night time when there were no crowds of civilians. Forcing civilians to get it through their hopeful and quite thick heads that the Disciplinary Squad is not there 24/7. Now, the situation was such that the humans ruled the city from early morning to somewhere around 7 to 8 o'clock in the evening and after that, their chances of getting horribly murdered increase faster than a rocket shooting off to escape Earth.

But all of that passed as background thinking for me as I thought back on what we did today and the happy memories we made. I thought back to the pure delight that streamed nonstop from our Ashikabi down our bonds today. I smiled, remembering how it felt like… We all had a different simile to use for it. Beni likened it to the nice feeling she got as she unwound in a hot tub after a particularly dreadful mission. Uzume claimed that it felt like lazing in her bed, half-awake in the morning sun. Haihane grinned as she forced Chiho in colour as for her it was kind of like the feeling she got as she laid, hugging Chiho after a particularly fierce round of hot sex. Kara said nothing, but I saw her eyes dim a couple eyes and heard her whisper Yume's name. For me… For me it was sort of like that one solo mission in Spain. I killed my target quickly and then decided to just take the rest of the day off and hit the beach. It really reminded me of how I laid under the hot sun, naked, just listening to the sea with my eyes closed.

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><p>"This is a baaaad idea." I tried my best to dissuade my Ashikabi from this venture. "Please don't do this!"<p>

"I would've never taken you for this kind of person Rei." Chiho sniggered as our turn in the line came up. "Come on! It'll be fun! From what I remember anyway!"

"But-" I was cut off by Kara laying a hand on my shoulder. A simple look full on anticipated amusement told me all I needed and I backed off. Welp, I've done everything I could, I guess all I could do now is sit back...relax...and enjoy the chaos.

"I told you this was a bad idea." I couldn't help myself but rub it in as we stumbled out of the unplanned and very recently added hole in the wall. "I seriously don't know what you expected."

Chiho frowned as she looked at the grins that threatened to split both my and Kara's faces. At least we weren't rolling on the ground laughing like Uzume or quietly sniggering up a storm like Haihane.

"Er…Yea…" Beni muttered as she pulled debris out of her hair. "Not apologizing for that one. It's their damn fault for jumping us!"

"But Benitsubasa!" Chiho whined. "It's just a Horror House! It's their job to scare people! You didn't have to level half of it to the ground..."

"Damn right I had to." Beni tossed a dark look back at the slowly crumbling structure. "Those fucking bastards better have learned their lesson or I am coming back!"

"Khmm," I coughed, trying to stifle my laughter but Uzume got there first.

"Hah, kha, Benitsubasa, you do realize that them pouring something on you is part of the attraction right?" She didn't even bother getting off the ground, just lying there, arms spread wide in the shape of a star. "It's just water."

"I don't care!" Beni grumbled as she kept pulling more junk out of her hair. "They ruined my hair style! I'd spent so long setting it up!"

"C-can we just...move on?" Chiho sighed as she rolled her eyes. "We should get out of here before they find us and kick us out. I still want to ride you know!"

"Fine, fine." Beni walked over to us before stopping beside Uzume. "Hey, Uzume, do you-"

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><p>I blinked, a bump on the road waking me from my doze. Huh, I dozed off? And somehow dreamed of what happened today? Although, I am not that surprised about the last part, I mean, I was thinking about our day today so it makes sense that my dream is about something that happened. Also, thank god we got out of there before they found us. I mean, it would've been just plain disappointing if that was the end of our day off. But no...it got better.<p>

I smirked as I recalled the memory of what happened just hours prior.

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><p>"What do you mean, disappointing!?" Chiho cried out incredulously as she stared at a nonchalant Haihane. "That ride was so fast! And scary! And the ground came out of nowhere! And-!"<p>

"I do the same as this 'roller coaster'," Haihane said the name with an exaggerated eye roll. "Whenever I want to go somewhere. Not to mention, this thing is just slow."

"She does have a point." Uzume supported her friend. "I mean, you've seen how we move right? That ride had nothing on us."

"Eh, don't look at me." Beni shuffled away from Chiho's heated glare. "I am slower than they are."

Kara and I merely stood by and watched this unfold. I didn't join in cause the ride was somewhat interesting for me while Kara looked like she was quite fine with just watching for now. I grew a bit concerned when a sly grin appeared on Chiho's face and she turned and pointed at another of these 'roller coaster' things, this one much bigger though.

"We are going for that one." When Haihane looked like she was about to protest, Chiho cut her off. "No buts!"

"Well, I don't know about that…" Chiho jumped when Uzume hugged her from behind, making sure to touch the aforementioned part.

"U-Uzume!" Chiho positively glowed red as she squeaked. "People around!"

"Awww." Uzume smirked as she spoke huskily into Chiho's ear. "Well, we'll just have to save it till tonight hmm? When there won't be anyone but you...me…"

"And me!" Haihane hugged Chiho from the front, turning it into a quite suggestive looking spectacle. The fact that the parents with kids around us hurriedly ushered them away, spoke volumes on what we were watching.

"Let's get going already." Kara said simply as she walked by the sandwich structure. As I followed her, I guessed that she was quite impatient to wait them out. Granted, I was also quite intrigued in what Chiho was scheming…

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><p>I sniggered softly, careful not to wake up the woman sleeping on my shoulder. Oh yea, Chiho showed Uzume, Haihane and Beni. It's one thing to ride on those things...and completely another when suddenly a bunch of emotions start piling up on you from the bond. After suffering through a massive load of fear and excitement, amongst other things, the ride suddenly became a loooot more interesting for the Sekirei in question. Kara and I were somewhat used to it from our 'training' but even we took a couple moments to shake off the emotional overload each time. Haihane, Uzume and Beni just didn't stand a chance. Unprepared and taken completely by surprise, they screamed for the entire duration of the ride, looking like normal humans for once…<p>

Of course, Kara and I had to quietly scold her afterwards. The mental connection we had between us was not meant for these kind of impulsive decisions. Chiho is rather lucky that the trio in question were too confused to react normally. And by normally I mean destroy everything dangerous and threatening in sight. Thankfully, they couldn't figure out just where the danger was and thus decided to stay put instead of obliterating the ride and most of the amusement park with it.

Seriously, pranking the Disciplinary Squad was such a terrible idea that had we known what she was planning to do, we'd have stopped her. The fact that it ended as well as it was amazing all in its own. Because the much more likely scenario involved a mountain of corpses and a crater where that amusement park once stood…


	70. Gate:Utopia

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: References! References everywhere!

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><p>I wonder what is it with us and the moon? Or is it just me? These were my thoughts as I sat on the edge of the MBI Tower, my feet gently swaying in the wind over the abyss. Unlike the last several times, tonight the moon was hidden behind clouds. Many, heavy clouds in fact. I wonder if we are getting a storm or something…<p>

Bah, whatever, what's occupying my mind is why Kara leaned over and gave me a quiet whisper as we got out of the car and assisted our drowsy family in getting into the building. What does she want to talk to me about? Is it about that thing in the morning? Do I finally get to hear what she wanted and why she suddenly decided against saying it then? It was so strange for Kara to do something like this that I felt quite nervous suddenly, waiting for her. All of those questions hovered like incessant flies or beetles, just flying about and driving me mad.

But what pissed me off even more was that I couldn't distract myself by looking at the moon! Due to those damn clouds, what I got was a pitch black night. No stars, no moon, just the lights of the city before me. Made it seem like I was sitting on the edge of endless void, hovering just on the borders of a myriad fragile lights that flickered and huddled close together; trying their best to defend against the darkness that hugged them with the closeness of a passionate lover.

"Nice night, hmm?" I flinched as I turned around to stare at the approaching Kara, her steps completely silent as always.

"To each their own." I shrugged as I turned to stare back at the overwhelmed lights. I decided to let her start the conversation, to tell me what she wanted.

"Establish a connection with me." I glanced at the woman who had sat beside me for the past 5 or so minutes silently. One look at her determined expression and I closed my eyes, concentrating. There was no point in asking if she was sure about letting me into her Inner World or if she really wanted this mental connection thing. If Kara stated something like this in the way she did now, she was already convinced and there wasn't much I could do otherwise. I didn't even bother asking for her permission to enter her Mindscape either, it was a waste of effort when she was like this.

A minute later I was slowly floating down the lightless void that was my mind's representation of the bond we shared. Unlike my bond with Chiho, this one was much easier to travel through, it was as if someone gently pulled me from the other side. Well, that could be quite possible considering I explained to Kara just how I contacted them mentally and what I did to create a stable connection between the 3 of us so we each could talk to our Ashikabi mentally. Now my lover was clumsily trying to help me establish the same just between the 2 of us.

I jumped from surprise when a loud caw came out of nowhere. Opening my eyes, I looked on what must be Kara's mindscape. I wasn't at all disappointed by what I saw.

I stood upon...bones? Crouching down I saw that it really were bones, of all shapes and sizes, compacted and interlocked together to form a very rough ground. And they stretched to the horizon, as far as I could see, I noted as I stood up. Bones, from dull gray to pristine white, from tiny fragments to… I felt my eyebrows rise as I turned to find myself standing on the edge of a massive forest made of bones. Not just massive, but very thick too...although the extremely poor lighting of this world was effective at hiding anything beyond 50 or so meters in shadows. I wonder, why is it perpetual twilight here, there is a light source judging by what I saw but it's... Oh my…I felt my jaw drop as I stared up, stunned.

Directly above me was a… a city. An eight edged city of tall buildings, expansive parks and strange objects. The whole city was quite strange...no...alien is the word I'd use. Everything it in, from architecture to city planning was...alien. It was unlike anything I've ever seen, not even remotely close to the human style I've seen so far. Yet, despite it's total alien feeling, I...I felt drawn to it. Like a lost traveller who had journeyed so long that they had long forgotten what their home looked like. But I could feel it, in my Tama, that this… This city… was my home. Unconsciously, I reached out and stepped forward, trying to reach… I reached out, all of my essence trying to attain the Ever-Distant Utopia…

The crunch of bones under my metal greaves brought me back jarringly, almost making me fall on my back as I withdrew in shock. I looked around, wildly, confused and lost, all of me still aching for the Unreachable Dream above me. But the sad reality around me was unforgivingly grounding. Bones and crows were everywhere, as far as the eyes could see in this murky darkness. A barren wasteland filled by nothing but bones, scavengers and the foul miasma hiding in the cracks below, peeking through the bottommost bones. I looked up once more, marvelling at the giant octahedral city suspended upside down above me, giving me the illusion that I was standing on the sky, about to fall down upon the city below me… I blinked, the last thought sounding odd to me. Thinking about it for a second, I had to look up again in an odd awe. To think that this world would make me believe that it was I who was upside down for a second…

The world around me was dead, nothing but crows and bones, bones and crows. The only source of light in this place was the city, hanging upside down in the sky, and the faint glow originating from somewhere deep in the forest before me. Taking one last glance at the Unreachable Dream above me, I turned and walked down the hill of bones I appeared on, carefully making my way to the forest. As I walked, I began to notice pillars, tombstones and other grave markings, all of them partially or almost fully buried by the bones around them. I had to maneuver my way to avoid tripping on a half covered cross or a tip of an obelisk rising from the dirty white, pothole filled carpet. The crows that sat upon the mementos of the dead and the horrifying white 'trees', were quite friendly to me which almost sent me into a dissonance for a second before I remembered where I was. I mean, to see flying scavengers the size of dogs, sporting claws that easily scratched the bones they perched on and beaks that broke the stone grave markings they sharpened their beaks on...not to mention those black eyes with a small blood red dot in the very center… To see such dangerous creatures greet me with a friendly caw or wave their wings at me almost as if they were waving a greeting… It was quite odd.

Of course, I sincerely doubted that anything in Kara's mindscape could be dangerous to me. So I didn't mind when a particularly large crow with feathers of the darkest night dipped in fresh blood decided to take a seat on my shoulder. As I expected, it's claws easily tore through both my haori and tabard but unleashed a shower of sparks on contact with my armour. I did notice that said armour gained several rather deep gashes though, causing newfound respect and wariness to form in me as I glanced at the crow's razor sharp claws. I shifted slightly, adjusting for the crow's surprisingly light weight, and moved on. As I entered the forest, what little light I had from the city in the sky above faded to a barely noticeable glow, bathing me in sudden darkness.

As I paused, trying to adjust for the darkness, I was quite surprised when the bird on my shoulder cawed loudly and suddenly, it's feathers began to glow a deep, vicious type of red. It was too weak to really light the surroundings but it was just enough to light up the path before me, allowing me to move on. I patted the crow's feathers gratefully and slowly walked on through the bone woods. In absolute silence we walked, amidst the bone trees on the uneven bone ground, darkness hungrily circling all around us, seeking for even a hint of a chance to pounce in and consume those who braved to challenge it. A woman in red and gold armour with a blood crow on her shoulder...tch, this place is getting to me, speaking of myself in 3rd person, really?

I shifted my attention to the present as the crow once more tapped my cheek with it's wing while another pointed hard right. Yea, without a guide, this place is a deadly trap. The seemingly endless darkness enveloped forest of similar looking trees made of bone was...deadly. Already, I've lost the track of time I had spent here, began to have odd quirks like speaking 3rd person narrative and, most importantly, the forest kept trying to subtly make me stray off path. This must be the 8th or so time the crow guided me back to the right path only it could see. I turned faithfully only to nearly jump from joy as I saw faint light glimmer ahead. Accelerating, I charged onwards, eager to escape the hungry darkness around us.

I broke out of the forest, only to instantly stop in my tracks at what I saw. I stood on the tip of a clearing, the center of which was completely devoid of the bones on which I walked to get here. For the first time, I could see the soil of this world… and was that… that was grass! Finally! Something alive that wasn't the ever present crows. Speaking of crows, the guide on my shoulder, gave a parting caw and heavily took off to join the rest of his kind that sat on bone tree branches around the crater like clearing. None of them dared to go inside for some reason…

Right in front of me were stairs made out of finely crafted, seemingly ever present, bone. As I descended down into the crater, my eyebrows slowly rose higher and higher as I realized that the ground was about 50 or so meters lower than the top layer of the white carpet that covered it. I pictured just how many dead beings were required to do this and stopped for a moment when I realized that it was a number of 9 digits or more.

Shaking my head slightly, I continued towards the small grass clearing at the bottom of this world of bones. Towards a beam of light that pierced the dead air. In fact, I paused and glanced up, the beam of golden light landed on the exact center of the city in the sky above. A giant 8 edged pyramid with a flat top, kind of reminding me of the design of the Jinki. I stared at it briefly until an insistent caw from the surrounding birds brought me back onto the dead world. I slowly began to walk once more, towards what looked like the center of Kara's Mindscape. As I walked, I saw that the clearing was actually full of obelisks, all of them of different sizes and colors. Each obelisk also emitted it's own unique color...or was devoid of color at all, giving the impression that it was dead. Strangely, as I walked into this rather crowded clearing, I noticed that 2 of the biggest obelisks were partially broken as if someone tried to destroy them with a sledgehammer but gave up halfway. One of them glowed the faintest of waverly gold, giving the appearance that it was about to give out any moment now. At least it glowed though, unlike the other one, which, although in a better shape and bigger all around, was also completely dead.

Aside from those 2, there were 2 more great obelisks, and these looked quite fine to me. One of them gave off a soft light blue smoke through which bright blue lightning bolts snaked constantly. The second glowed with a brilliant gold light, making it impossible to look at directly after the darkness of this world. Strangely, a great chain made of white light stretched from both of those obelisks and reached into a giant pitch black orb that laid on an altar in the shape of a crow that stood in the center of this clearing. Aside from the 4 great obelisks, 3 smaller obelisks stood around the central altar. One that glowed pure white, one - large but not quite great - was enshrouded in a hurricane of gray wind and a final one that glowed vicious red through the dark pink lines that snaked through it like some sort of a tribal tattoo.

Finished, I looked back at the golden obelisk that blew a hole in the sky as it reached towards the city far above...wait, this was no obelisk. This was a beacon! A beacon whose light could reach the Ever-Distant Utopia! I was once more enthralled by the majestic city above, by its alien beauty, my head tipped back and my arm once more reached for it unconsciously. Reaching for the Unreachable-.

"Beautiful," A voice from behind startled me. "Isn't it?"

"Kara?" I turned to see the owner of this world stroll in to stand beside me, her eyes staring at the same object that enthralled me but moments ago.

"So close, making you think you can reach out and touch it." Kara's lips were twisted by a bitter smile as she slowly reached out and then let her hand drop lifelessly. "But it's far beyond my reach."

"What is it?" I asked as I watched Kara look on at the magnificent city above.

"It has many names." Kara smiled once more, this time wistfully. "8 Nestships there were and 1 Crown to watch over them. 8 Flights came down upon this planet and with them they brought their Heavens. 8 Rulers fled from the doom that consumed our race and they brought our Throne with them."

She paused slightly as I waited patiently, thinking on what she said. I knew that 8 Sekirei ships came to this planet tens of millennia ago, but our crashed into the ocean where it laid till just over 20 years ago. But what Kara said...does this mean that there were 9 ships in total? Does it mean-.

"The city-ship that hangs in the sky above us has many names." Kara continued suddenly. "Valhalla, Olympus, Assur, Yaochi, Xibalba, Tamoanchan… All of those names used by the descendants of the 8 Sekirei Nestships."

"Although Miya, as the Pillar of our Nestship, calls it Kouten," Kara continued, her eyes still glued to the the heavens above. "I much prefer to call it Avalon."

"Why is it called by so many different names?" I asked, confused. "Doesn't it have it's own, single name?"

"...It does." Kara turned to look at me, smirking. "But it has no analogue in any Human language. So it was nicknamed to make some sense. After all, the closest translation I thought up of is Heaven's Feel and that doesn't make much sense now, does it?"

"Heaven's Feel…" I murmured to myself, the name that rolled off my tongue instilled a strange feeling in my Tama.

"One day," Kara drew her sword and smiled a smile that promised many things, none of them good. "One day, it shall be mine."

"Where - or rather how - did you see it? Heaven's Feel, that is?" I asked, deciding to call the Ever-Distant Utopia in the sky above us the name that Kara mentioned. The woman in question glanced at me weirdly when I said it but answered nonetheless.

"I saw Avalon nearly 15 years ago, on Kamikura Island." She explained. "Each Sekirei Nestship was given 1 Jinki and all 8 Jinki are required to open the Gate that can take you to Avalon. Because our Nestship sank, and our Jinki with it, no one could access Avalon."

"Until we finally awoke, millennia after the last Sekirei of the other 7 ships died." Kara sheathed her sword and leaned against the nearest obelisk, whose bright blue lightning simply ignored her. "Miya used MBI to find and gather the other 7 Jinki. Then...then she summoned Avalon. I'll never forget the magnificent city that hovered upside down above us. None of us would. Not the 1st Disciplinary Squad, nor the humans present."

"What happened then?" I asked, pressing the conversation as Kara fell silent, biting her lips.

"Then Number 1 used the Jinki to travel to Avalon via a portal…" Kara looked away. "And never came back."

"Eh…?" I felt my eyes bulge at this information. What the hell?

"The Sekirei that ascended the Throne of Heavens and the Sekirei that returned are 2 completely different beings who just happen to look the same." Kara's vengeful voice made me shudder from the amount of poison and hate in it. "Number 1 was a worthy leader, ruthless yet charismatic, one who was willing to make this world burn for the sake of her Flight. As it Should be!"

"What happened to Miya?" I asked softly after a brief pause during which Kara calmed down somewhat.

"I don't know." Kara pushed herself away from the obelisk and stood, staring at Heaven's Feel, blood slowly dripping down from her clenched fists. "But I will find out once I claim Avalon."

* * *

><p>Note: ...Or are they only references? Perhaps...they are something more?<p>

Note: I do wonder what you guys think of Kara's Mindscape.


	71. Gate:Daybreak

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: My apologies for taking so long, things happened. On the positive side, here's another portion of updates, 3 this time.

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><p>"Is there a point to this?"<p>

Much to both Kara's and my surprise, it was Haihane who broke the silence inside the helicopter.

'A tie it seems.' Kara sent a mental snicker my way as I smiled. I had bet that Uzume would break the silence first while my captain wagered a favour on Beni. Strangely, Uzume was instead playing about with silk strands, her face showing utmost concentration as her silk wove into spectacular shapes and such complicated structures that my eyes occasionally got trapped in optical illusions. Even now she wove what looked like one of those massive spell circles I remember from one of Haihane's anime. And considering it was scaled down to fit on her knees rather than the massive dozen meter structure I remember, the amount of detail in such a small space made my head hurt just from trying to imagine such a thing. After I noticed that she also kept all of the runes and symbols in it to, I decided against even looking anywhere near her, afraid that this headache will return.

Beni on the other hand firmly occupied our Ashikabi's attention as Chiho avidly described the preparation of some dish. My little sister wrote everything down with great interest and kept asking questions that sprouted more lectures of their own. Yea, I am not sure what Kara was thinking when she wagered on her, I am willing to bet that, if left to their own devices, they would talk like this all the way into the night. So it's no wonder that it was Haihane, left to her own devices, that broke the silence, clearly bored. Considering we all had a good night of sleep, none of us particularly felt like taking a nap right now and aside from that there wasn't much to do on the helicopter.

Let's see, Uzume is doing...urgh...her own thing. Beni and Chiho are currently lost to the outside world. Kara and I had spent the time playing mind games - literally as we were playing them mentally - and the final 2 occupants of the cabin, Akitsu and Takami, were working away on something on their tablets. Even now they were quietly discussing something, Akitsu pointing at something on her tablet while Takami was listening to her intently. Haihane generally brought a gaming console with her on rides like this or at least a manga or an anime to watch. Today though...she didn't for some reason.

"Surprisingly," Takami looked away from her quiet conversation with Akitsu. "There is."

"Minaka set up the chain of command in such a way that the Disciplinary Squad is the 3rd in line after him and us." Akitsu explained as Haihane frowned at Takami's unhelpfulness. "We do not really know why Takami and I are on the list, but you should definitely look at your future...minions."

"Minions?" Chiho frowned, the idea of having to take responsibility and command of hundreds of soldiers clearly not enticing the smaller girl. "Why not just let them do their own...thing? Don't they have officers to command them?"

"They do." An annoyed expression flickered over Takami's face as she answered. "But Minaka's orders are clear: the Russians follow our orders. The moment any of us are on the field, we are automatically in charge."

"Tch, this is not only stupid, but also pointless." Beni scoffed. "The moment we show up on the field, those soldiers become nothing more than nuisances. The most they could do is not get in our way."

"They could be used to protect your Ashikabi." Akitsu suggested, a light, thoughtful frown on her face.

"Would you trust them, unknown men with unknown loyalties, to keep your Ashikabi safe?" I asked seriously. Even though it was a rhetorical question and I was sure of the answer, I trusted Akitsu. If she surprised me and said yes...well…

"...No." Akitsu lowered her head slightly, admitting defeat. "I would not trust Takami to any one hired by Minaka. Not unless I knew them personally."

"Meaning that for us, they are merely cannon fodder whose only use is to use their useless lives to buy enough time for us to get there." Kara stated as a matter of factly. "I fail to see the difference between them and the usual MBI cannon fodder."

"Kara-!" Chiho made to reprimand our captain but I interrupted before she could.

"Our uses for common soldiers are limited to say the best, Chiho." I leaned inside to make myself be heard a bit easier inside this helicopter. I kind of wish we used the Disciplinary Squad dropship instead. Not only was it much more comfortable and well sound insulated, the pilot - Joker - was also an absolute ace, far better than the commoner currently piloting this standard MBI chopper.

"Yea, I mean, what do we use them for? Fight Sekirei?" Haihane derisive words made me, Beni and Kara smile in amusement. "Not only are they only human, they also don't even know we exist! They will underestimate their opponents and not only die easily, but also fail their mission. Even if they manage to fulfill their role and stall long enough for us to get there, their losses would be catastrophic."

"We aren't commanders." Uzume sighed and then glanced at Kara. "Well, most of us aren't."

"Their only possible use is against other humans." Kara mused, fun time over and she was clearly thinking of what to do with the baggage we are being forced to handle. "Using them to fight our kind will produce questionable results at absolute best."

"Who said that Minaka hired them to fight Sekirei?" Takami dropped the bomb, confirming mine and Kara's suspicions while stunning the rest of the cabin into silence.

"War is coming?" I asked softly, wondering just how many more suspicions we have are correct.

"Hopefully not." Takami tried to light a cigarette only to have it snatched by Akitsu who gestured at Chiho. "Tch. Anyway, although they are here as a precautionary measure, their main purpose is to send a message. Anyone attacking the MBI attacks the Russians too. And considering they have very good relations with most of Asia, particularly China and India… The thought of fighting a triumvirate like that will cause many, many second thoughts."

"That's nice and all," Haihane finally said as we all mulled on Takami's explanation. "But what do we do with this dead weight we are going to meet?"

"Nothing." Takami shrugged carelessly. "All you need to know is that in case you need something, you now have minions that might be able to do it for you."

"We are all going there just to meet their commanding officers for now." The Ice Sekirei added. "So they know us face to face, sort to speak. That is all. If you never meet them again after this morning, that is fine."

* * *

><p>Strangely, the meeting went quite well. We had to use English considering that the Russians didn't know Japanese but everyone present could understand and speak English to various degrees. Still, their obvious professionalism and the fact that they treated us with respect gave them bonus points from everyone involved. The Lieutenant-Colonel in charge, Anton Razin, was obviously briefed just what we are and, considering his very careful stance, just what we could do. As far as the Russian intelligence knows anyway. The rest of the commanding officers were not and it could be vaguely seen in their postures and tone. They didn't know who we are and could only judge us by our clothes and the fact that Takami introduced us as their superiors.<p>

For a second, I tried to imagine myself in their shoes. Men that worked hard to get to where they are and are here because the rest recognise their skills and abilities. And yet, here they are, shipped to a rock in the middle of an ocean, a completely foreign city they'll have to protect starting tomorrow. Their superiors now consist of a Clown in white, a pair of civilian scientists and a motley crew of highly questionable people. I mean, 2 of them carry swords in this day of age! Thankfully, my armour looked futuristic enough that they took it as experimental power armour or something along the lines judging by their looks.

Anyhow, after putting myself in their shoes figuratively, my respect for their professionalism grew. Aside from a few very well hidden tells of just how much they disliked their current situation and the aforementioned circumstances, the Russians were rearing to go do their duties. Or maybe they just wanted to escape our presence all that much quicker?

Regardless, we had to wrap this up quickly as, right in the middle of introductions, both Kara's and my phones rang, signaling and incoming order from Minaka. And now we, that is Kara and I, stood before a Catholic Cathedral while Chiho - accompanied by Uzume, Haihane and Beni - headed over to another Cathedral, this one for the Protestant parish. I could feel that this was going to be one of the weirder missions. I still don't know why Minaka wants all the Christian religious leaders out of the city right now but...eh, it's Minaka. Half of the stuff the man does makes no sense right now or even ever. That isn't to say that it's pointless but the insane man follows his own logic and knowledge. Perhaps sometime later I'll learn that there was a very big and deep reason for this...maybe. Still, makes me wonder why only Christians, there were no orders concerning the Shinto priests or Buddhist monks as far as I know.

Some, like the Orthodox and Jehovah's Witness went quietly, for reasons I can only guess, but thankfully they don't want to escalate this. Actually, we have to check in on the Orthodox later as they refused to leave immediately and are currently carefully packing their sacred regalia and icons. I honestly don't mind waiting and, judging from Minaka's orders and their wording, neither does the White Clown. Kara even phoned over and apparently they promised to be done by the end of the day so all we'll have to do is drop by and watch to make sure they do their part.

"Huh…" We both took a moment to just survey the scene after we got out of the car. The entire area was flooded by MBI troops with the tell tale red coats of Specialists flickering through the dark camouflage of MBI grunt gear everywhere. From what I could see, the whole district was cordoned off by police barricades at which disgruntled civilians stood, voicing their displeasure at seeing their temple surrounded by people in uniform with very questionable motives. The gigantic metal structure before us, also known as St. Mary's Cathedral, was merely the central building of an entire complex of structures in a densely populated area. A nightmare to storm with any serious gear. Well, that is why we are here aren't we? To make sure that that nightmare becomes a walk in the park.

"Good day, Lady Karasuba. Rei, great to see you!" We turned to see Andromeda, the Specialist Captain, quickly make her way towards us, clad in full Specialist battle regalia, clearly ready for combat. "You've arrived just in time. The negotiations just failed so we are gearing up for another assault."

"Another?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What's going on, Andromeda? We only know that you called for help, that's it."

"It's...complicated. Follow me." The small woman turned on the heels of her boots and briskly walked towards a nearby building out of and into which MBI personnel hurriedly moved. "An hour ago we've sent a small squad to oversee the deportation of the clergy here."

"I can see that that went real well." I gestured at the dozens of soldiers with the symbol of Andromeda's battalion - a dark blue downward arrow on black field - everywhere, there must be hundreds of them on the premises.

"Unfortunately." Andromeda grimaced as we walked into a small empty room with a few chairs and a table covered in paperwork. "Take a seat, I'll explain."

"From what little we know," The European woman began the moment we were seated. "Is that the cathedral is occupied by armed Catholic fanatics. Personally, I think we might be dealing with Section 13."

"Who is that?" Kara asked with mild interest in her voice. "Some sect?"

"If only." The Specialist captain sounded dead serious. "No, this is far more dangerous than some sect, Milady."

"You might not know this," She began carefully after a short pause. "But this world is by far not as simple as it looks. There is a...hidden side to it."

"You have our interest." Kara leaned in, a gleam in her eyes. "Speak."

"Magic, some call it." The woman started, her expression dead serious. "And so I thought too...until I've met your kind."

I almost wanted to laugh but considering her expression, I held on to that option for now.

"There are certain...bloodlines or clans," Andromeda continued. "In this world that have abilities beyond human comprehension. Abilities unique only to those who carry that particular bloodline in their veins. Abilities that are as fantastic as yours."

"Sekirei descendants." Kara nodded, her interest clearly waning. "Interesting, perhaps, but their blood is diluted to such extent that I would be astonished if any of them pose any threat to us at all."

"To you? No." Andromeda smiled crookedly, not a hint of amusement in her eyes. "To a normal human though… My men will die just trying to chip their paint here, Milady."

"Is this Section 13 really that powerful?" I asked if there was something...wait… "Actually, more importantly, are there other groups like this? Specifically ones aligned with the Protestants for instance?"

"There are 7 major groups that we know of," Andromeda turned to me, her eyes glancing at the papers before her. "And yes, I have a report right here that states that the Protestant Church of England has deployed a couple squads of Hellsing here. However, the Protestants appear to have withheld on sending their heavy hitters as these can be classified as their human scouts. The vanguard so to speak."

"Don't worry," Andromeda nodded in understanding at my worried frown as I readied to mentally call Chiho. "Anton has fought against Hellsing before. He knows them and he'll make sure everyone is prepared as well as they can be before attacking. Not to mention, Matthew and his men are on alert, ready to assist if need be."

"Hmm…" I still wasn't convinced and was still on the verge of calling my Ashikabi. I mean, I know it's most likely a foolish idea considering just how much backup they got but I don't know… I probably would've preferred Andromeda to be with them, her battalion is the best out of all the MBI battalions. Leeroy may be the Specialist Commander, but his squad is only 3rd in overall power with Anton slightly ahead and Andromeda solid in the lead.

"Ever since the breakaway from the Roman Catholic Church, the so called heretics were weak and afraid that the Roman Church would send the Iscariot after them." The small woman rolled her eyes before starting a lecture. "And so they made a deal with one of the Great Clans which, at the time, was thinking of relocating due to some...disagreements with the ruling monarch of their country. Regardless, the Vampir Clan and the Knights of the Round Table came together to form what is known as the Hellsing Organization to protect the Protestant World."

"That is a great history lesson," Kara said, clearly not appreciating the random bit of history. "But…"

"The point is," Andromeda obliged. "After the Razing of London in early 2000s, both Hellsing and Iscariot lost most of their considerable strength. So much in fact, that even now, more than a dozen years later, Hellsing has barely the manpower to keep the Misty Albion under control, let alone spare any of their real fighters to go to a place on the other side of the world. At least, I don't see the Hellsing Commander Seras Victoria doing something like this. Your Ashikabi will be fine."

"I see." I relaxed and instead focused my attention on the huge metal structure just beyond the window. "What about this Section 13...or you called it Iscariot?"

"Section 13 is what they are known in the world." The Specialist explained readily. "The members are known as Iscariots. I also don't expect to see anyone beyond Acolyte ranks really, the losses they suffered during the Razing of London were catastrophic, and only the fact that they had so many to spare is their saving grace. So, while Acolytes are something I really wouldn't wish to pit my men against, they should be easy for you to dispose of."

"Are you done yet?" Kara stood up straighter, clearly about to leave. "Let's get a move on, we have other places to be at today."

"I very much doubt you'll have any sort of trouble with the Orthodox." Andromeda reflected as we all walked out of the room. "MBI has a...history with them. A very favourable one."

"I am more concerned about the Islamic factions to be honest." I stated truthfully, wondering why Minaka didn't mention them at all. From the surface research I did, Islamists seem to be the most aggressive ones, committing everything from mass terrorists acts to widespread rebellions and totalitarian dictatorships all over the world. True, their fraction in Shinto Teito was miniscule at best and nonexistent at worst, but it doesn't take many to disrupt the city with religious terror bombings for instance. Although they would most likely do nothing to us Sekirei, any sort of disturbance this close to the Fourth Stage is very unwanted. Having real terrorists instead of a convenient cover up would be quite bad.

"Oh? You didn't know?" Andromeda glanced at me in puzzlement before understanding took over. "Shortly after that conference you attended with Miss Elizabeth, MBI slowly pushed the Islamic factions out of the city with the populace's support. I believe that the last Imam, their version of religion leaders, left the day you returned from Uruma.

"Whatever." Kara broke into the conversation, clearly wishing to get in and have a good time. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yes." Andromeda gestured to a small group of Specialists that stood at attention as we approached. "This is my designated assault squad. What's going to happen, is that we will provide covering fire and general support while you storm the front. The rest of my forces will surround the cathedral with heavy weapons and explosives. They have the orders to shoot to kill and to keep shooting until confirmed dead."

"Let's go." Kara didn't even bother giving the squad before us a glance, only acknowledging Andromeda's plan with a slight nod, before she began to walk towards the massive doors of the front entrance. I followed beside her, my hands on my swords, only taking a second to glance at the red coats that quietly spread out behind Andromeda, their weapons at the ready. A strange bunch they were, each one unique and different but all clearly unified as a unit. 11 men and 2 women with Andromeda at the lead, armed with everything from massive sniper rifles and machine guns to assault rifles and strange looking devices. Each one had their weapons and uniform customized. As we made our way up the small set of stairs and towards the monumental wooden doors - or gates rather - I felt confident that with this kind of support this will be a piece of cake.


	72. Gate:Cathedral

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Up close, the Cathedral was a magnificent if somewhat imposing sight. Strange architecture composed of angles and straight edges, made of stainless metal that seemingly radiated light that overwhelmed the natural noon sun. The gates before us were part of a triangular tower with its cathetus being the side that faced us, full of windows in the middle that let the sunlight stream inside unopposed. This close it seemed like this face of the triangular tower rose to the very heavens above, seemingly going up without limit. The shining metal reflected everything, giving the appearance of a cold mirror with a light blue tinge when up close.<p>

Even Kara paused for a second to admire the view before she purposefully moved in and swung open the great doors singlehandedly with seeming ease. And just like that, we strolled into a light filled Cathedral, the crimson clad Specialists hurriedly spreading throughout the room behind us, taking cover behind the massive wooden benches that lined the open space row by row. I found it amazing how the entire gigantic building was actually entirely hollow inside, dull metal walls absorbing the light streaming in through the windows from outside and instead reflecting a gentle, soothing glow. The whole building, for all of its monumental majesticness, was actually quite ascetic. Empty walls, endless row by row of massive, rough looking wooden benches a podium with a giant cross and stained glass behind it...and that was it basically.

I focused on the altar that stood in the center of the podium. Or rather, I focused on the three people that stood around it, their eyes studying us the moment we entered. The old man directly behind the altar was clad in full bishop's robes and regalia, his weathered left hand holding a crosier. Strangely, his clothes were mostly black. Or perhaps it wasn't so strange as I recalled an image of a priest clad in black, serving at a funeral. Considering I've never been to a funeral, this must be Archive's memory but...it's strange. I don't ever recall him sharing this. Where did it come from? I don't recognise any one at all in that fleeting memory.

Both Kara and I stopped in the center of the church, a couple dozen meters separating us from the altar. As we stood, simply examining each other, I glanced around wondering where the bodies of the first squad were. There were definitely signs of struggle, some of the benches spotted splinters and cracks of being hit by bullets and blood spots were practically everywhere on the marble floor but aside from that...nothing. Did they clean up the bodies or something?

Finding the results of my survey intriguing but currently irrelevant, I turned to study the 2 priests standing on either side of the altar, staring at us blankly. Both wore plain black clerical vestments...or not? Their robes were open and hung like trench coats rather than clerical garments. Black shirts, pants and silver crosses at the chest fitted what I knew of Catholic priests, but the dual cross pommelled longswords that hanged at their hips did not.

"Well?" Kara broke the silence that began to turn oppressive. "Any last words before we get this overdue show on the road?"

"You stand here, in the Realm of the Lord." The old man spoke, his voice surprisingly powerful as it echoed through the empty building. "Repent, sinners, and your immortal souls shall be saved. Even you, alien you may be, but all are Children of the Lord in all of the universe. You have strayed from the path of Righteousness, but all stray lambs of the Lord can be guided back into his loving hands. Repent, and you shall be saved."

"A...stray… path?" Kara laughed, the sound amplified by the metal walls. "I make my own path, human. I have no use for your 'God' or his path."

"I see." The old man sighed, genuine pity and disappointment practically coming off of him in waves. "Then it seems that it has come to this. As the Lord's Shepherd, it is my duty to guide his lost, heretical lambs back to him, one way or another. Although your life cannot be saved, I shall pray for your eternal soul that you may find solace and salvation in the Lord's embrace."

"Iscariot!" The man on the left suddenly called out, his words ringing through the Cathedral like a rallying war cry.

"Rise!" The man on the right echoed his companion. Suddenly, a couple dozen men stood up from the floor upon which they knelt, hidden from view by the benches at the front. Each one wore the same black, modified vestments and each one had a pair of great black pistols in their hands. And just like that, the situation heated up immensely as the Specialists behind us brought their weapons around, mirroring their black, religious counterparts.

"The Lord protects!" The bishop uttered as if stating a universal fact. I felt my eyes widen as power resonated in those words and suddenly symbols and Latin letters appeared on the priest's clothing, glowing a soft gold light. "His power knows no bounds and none may challenge it!"

Okay, this was getting stranger and stranger, I decided as I watched more symbols and Latin text appear on the guns and swords pointed our way.

"Open fire." And with that order from Andromeda, hell descended.

We Sekirei are much harder than humans. Even so, I wanted to smack Andromeda for getting us into this as the sound of gunfire began to resonate and amplify amidst the metal walls. Strangely, I noticed as I glanced around, no one but me and Kara were affected. It won't really dampen our abilities or anything, but it sure as hell was annoying! Still, I noted with interest how the priests just stood there, stone faced, the hellish sound seemingly not getting through to them. I mean, the Specialists had their helmets, but the priests entered the fight bare headed. Barely a second into the fight, the windows exploded, the glass bursting outside as they weren't able to handle the resonance of sound.

That was the last thing I saw before an Iscariot priest tried to show me his blades, vainly believing that I gave a damn about it. Well, no, not quite true. I also noticed that no one yet died. Bullets, explosives, what looked like plasma rounds and beams of light were shredding the wooden benches and denting the metal walls but that was it. The Specialists wore some kind of armour under their coats that protected them while the Iscariot priests simply stood there, ignoring any and all damage, the symbols on their robes constantly flaring up as they protected their hosts with an energy barrier of sorts.

"Embrace the Light, Heretic!" Unlike the stone faced priests around us, the sword wielding maniac was quite fine with showing emotions. Anger mostly, with a bit of pity. Strange, why do they all pity us? Is there a point in doing so?

Surprisingly...I was impressed. The man was fast and strong….for a human. The glowing symbols and their Latin script gave the man a significant boost to his body's characteristics. Not to mention great protection. But… Protection, speed and strength...they meant nothing to me. After knocking him around with just pure strength and speed, I got bored of the barrier that protected him, making my blows only blast him back a step or 2.

"Only human…" I stated softly, watching the man's body slide off my sword, the surprise on his face palpable. The whole 'fight' only lasted maybe 15 seconds before I got tired of it. His technique was amazing and he was a very good swordsman, but the first counter attack I did with more than half of my real speed and strength sent him on a desperate defence and a few blows later, I finally got bored enough to use Gate:Open. The look on his face as he watched the blade go through both of his chipped swords and then through the barrier to stop half way inside his chest could've been taken and used as a definition of surprise and disbelief.

Stepping over his body I began making my way to the chanting bishop enveloped in golden light when something make me dash aside.

"What the…" I stared at the man I killed but a moment ago. "Hell?"

"The Lord protects!" The fanatic proclaimed before he dashed at me once more. Light literally spewed from the man, his broken blades reformed into beams of light. He also suddenly gained a severe speed and strength boost as well, making him as fast and as powerful as a low tier Enhancement Sekirei going all out. Fascinating, I mused as I parried the man's attacks, his blows causing the marble below my feet to crack. Just how did a human suddenly become this powerful? I mean, I've seen stronger humans like our Specialist Captains but they are just strong like that. And I also have very big doubts about them really being human. Still, this guy just randomly got a power boost from seemingly nowhere.

"Hmm…" I hummed as I stared at the man lying in the pool of his own blood once again. I wonder, will he-? Seriously, how is that light able to just erase the giant gash across the front of his body caused by my Gate? Hmm...can he get up from this though?

"Apparently not…" I stepped over the upper half of the recently bisected priest, the light dying on his body. Looking around, I noticed that I almost missed the rest of the fight. Kara was just moments away from finishing up the last couple of Iscariot priests while Andromeda and what looked like half of her squad was tending to the other half, currently on the ground in various poses. The sword wielding priest that my Captain fought was nowhere in sight but the place they fought at looked oddly warped, as if someone tried to wash the marble floor with a very powerful acid. I can easily figure out what happened just from one look though. Kara's Corruption leaves very unique and very recognisable traces after all. Whatever that Light that healed the priests does, it was clearly not enough to counter Kara's Corruption.

"Power…" I turned to face the bishop who finally stopped chanting. "Such...great power…"

"But…" The old man sighed as he leaned on his staff, the support he provided during the battle clearly draining him. "To what end? Dozens of powerful Children of the Lord running amok, free of responsibility."

"We are responsible." I denied the accusations with a frown. How dare this old fool say things like that? What does he even know of us?

"Some of you...yes." The bishop began to breathe heavily and I moved closer as his voice wavered. Something was definitely wrong here.

"But...even you… are merely pawns… to a greater power." The man swayed slightly, blinking rapidly. "The End Times… are coming. Now that the ancient scriptures...proven true."

"What are you - oi!" I rushed over as the man collapsed, all thoughts that he was an enemy forgotten. "What are you talking about old man!?"

"Your coming...foretold. See-" The man broke into a coughing fit before recovering to continue with a wheeze as he began to glow with a soft gold light. "The Soul...of this world...argh. The...Heaven's-"

Suddenly, the golden glow vanished and the man fell silent, dead.

"How interesting…" I turned my head to find both Kara and Andromeda look at the dead bishop attentively. "To think that an Inquisitor went so far as to use his own life to keep supporting his men...truly, he was great man indeed."

"I am more interested in these scriptures he mentioned." Kara mused, her hand absentmindedly stroking the pommel of her sheathed sword.

"Must be some Iscariot secret. The Catholic Church is very well known for collecting ancient scriptures and knowledge of the ancient times and then keeping it well hidden somewhere beneath Vatican." Andromeda shrugged and hissed from pain, her hand twitching towards her bandaged shoulder. "Regardless, this went surprisingly well for my men. Considering we found a full-fledged Inquisitor, 2 Acolytes and nearly 30 Disciples...Without your aid, I doubt that we would've gotten away with a light scare."

"'Light scare'?" I turned to look at the squad of Specialists, halved in number now.

"Surprisingly, no one died." Andromeda smiled, the relief on her face telling leagues of her feelings to her men. "Sure most will need weeks to recover and the medical bills will be meters long, but the armour did its job. My subordinates will live."

"Does that mean that for the next month or 2 you are missing out on Specialists?" Kara looked sharply at the Specialist Captain before us. I frowned, as I remembered that the same Specialists are responsible for the security of Shinto Teito's perimeter. With her missing Specialists, we are looking at potential security breaches. Although occasionally someone would sneak by, the Specialists responsible for the security of the city we live in did a very good job, stopping about 99 percent of everyone trying to sneak in. So having most of them suddenly on a hospital bed is going to prove to be a nightmare for the Disciplinary Squad. We are the ones responsible for wiping out those that do manage to get in after all.

"It's fine." Andromeda sighed as she took in the shattered benches, broken floor, twisted walls and powdered glass. "We got an influx of manpower recently as you may have saw. Quantity is a quality of its own after all… Still, you should probably get going and leave the clean up to me."

As we walked out, agreeing to the Specialist Captain's suggestion, the last thing we heard from the damaged Cathedral was a sigh full of suffering.

"Oh gods! The paperwork!"

* * *

><p>After we left the damaged Catholic Cathedral, Kara and I decided to split. While it was true that the MBI and the Orthodox Church were on good terms according to Minaka, I still wanted to check on them so that we can put away this religious mess aside as done and gone. Kara on the other hand was more concerned by getting the Jinki to Chiho, something she forgot to do to date. Considering the MBI is supposedly on good terms with the Orthodox Church, my visit is just a complimentary thing really. I mean, MBI may be on buddy terms with the Russian Orthodox Church, but this is the Autonomous Japanese Orthodox Church. Although I'll admit it would be funny if the whole 'Autonomous' thing was actually a hoax. Still, doesn't hurt to check, right?<p>

As I got out of the car on the parking lot, I paused to compare the Orthodox Holy Resurrection Cathedral to the Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral I had just left. It looked...traditional. Compared to the monumental shining cold steel walls of the Catholic Cathedral, the main Orthodox Cathedral of Japan looked...traditional. The white walls with a black edge and the pale green bell roofs of the Byzantine style looked a lot more comforting and easy on the eye then the unforgiving cold gleam of sharp, stainless metal that the Catholic Cathedral had. It was also a lot less imposing, looking almost cozy small amidst the surrounding skyscrapers and large apartment buildings. The fact that, unlike the Catholic Cathedral which was full of sharp edges, squares and triangles, the Orthodox Cathedral was more...curvy. The circular bell domes, the smooth wavy engravings, the hexagonal towers...it had it's straight edges of course, but it was like comparing the sharp, simple longsword to the curve of a katana.

All of this passed through my head as I walked up the very short stairs and walked through the open green doors of the Cathedral. Surprisingly, unlike the Catholic Cathedral in which the main hall was there right away, I found myself in a small room with a few benches along the walls and rows upon rows of coat racks. Not for the last time, I wondered on the symbology of all of this, the differences I saw. I wondered, as I walked through towards the second set of open green doors, if we...that is, if the Sekirei had their own traditions and beliefs. If our race had our own culture...our own religion. Common sense would dictate yes, right? But by looking at Miya, the only adult Sekirei and the only one who has seen Sekirei as a race and not a tiny remnant… I have my doubts... What were we? Why would Miya assimilate so readily, so...easily? Was there perhaps no culture to speak of? Not for the first, nor quite likely last, time the thoughts that my race might be artificial visited me.

As I stepped inside the praying hall, I once more found my eyes drawn to examine the innards of this Cathedral and once more, the comparison to the Catholics sprang up. Where the Catholic Cathedral was full of contradictions, the Orthodox Cathedral was more...stable? Hmm… Perhaps the word I am looking for is 'Consistent'? Just the general comparison of the Catholic Cathedral, monumental and imposing - almost oppressing - on the outside and yet ascetic - almost barren on the inside. To the Orthodox Church, traditional and small - almost as if timid - on the outside and small yet full and decorated - almost rich - on the inside. I am sure there must be some symbology hidden here somewhere, but my knowledge of religions is rather….small. Archive didn't give me any real lectures on the differences between them or any real in depth analysis of them. I know he is partial to the Orthodox, I could note the traces of this fact in quite a few bits of knowledge he shared with me but that's about it…

Moving on, I noticed that unlike the barren, heavy wood benches of the Catholic Cathedral, the Orthodox Cathedral had a dark red carpet that covered a good half of the room starting from the door. Nothing to sit on however, and unlike the walls which are decorated with many icons and even miniature altars to pray at, the middle was barren save for a small stretch of a carpet and a small podium. However, it wasn't the podium nor the altar far behind it that caught my attention.

"Ah, Rei!" I watched as Aizen and a man in his prime wearing golden robes approached me, while Saki stayed put by the podium fiddling with a smartphone in her hands. "This is Father Vladimir, the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. Father Vladimir, this is Lieutenant Rei of the Disciplinary Squad."

"It is good to meet you, miss Rei." The bishop's hand shake was surprisingly firm and his blue eyes were attentive and sharp, almost like sapphires. "I have heard many things about you and the team you are part of. Defending the weak and using your considerable and great strength to help those in need. It is truly a great pity that the methods you are forced to use are... what they are. However, I pray that one day, other ways will be found to solve those problems."

"I...I wish for the same." I felt slightly overwhelmed by the man's presence for a moment. When he began speaking with that Russian accent of his, it was as if suddenly I was in the presence of something much greater than me that gently chiding me. It sort of reminded me of the cold, furious chill that radiated from Akitsu when she was angry or used that aura monster of hers. Different emotions and feelings, but the intensity was even higher than that of the Ice Sekirei. It was truly fascinating to see a human to use something like that. It was also a bit depressing considering I myself have yet to figure out how to do something like that… I mean, Akitsu figured it out in the passing and even though I am well aware that I am by far not a genius like her, I'd have thought hard work would've gotten me somewhere by now… Also, maybe there really was something to the rumour that Miya learned her Hanya technique from Takehito and not the other way around after all…

"Father Vladimir is here to help the negotiations to proceed smoothly between MBI and the Japanese Patriarch." Aizen continued like he noticed nothing even though I saw the corners of his lips twitch in amusement.

"Oh, I thought we were doing this mission?" I half-asked, wondering just what Aizen was doing here.

"MBI and the Orthodox Church have a long and friendly history together." Aizen readily answered. "Although the Disciplinary Squad are certainly very effective, your methods are...not quite what MBI is looking for in this particular case. Minaka certainly knows better than to send the strike team to do negotiations."

"I thought you were an assassin?" I asked, noticing how the Russian bishop didn't so much as even give a hint of surprise at my words. He obviously knew who he was dealing with.

"Assassination is merely a small fragment of my skills." Aizen smiled condescendingly. "I like to consider myself to be a Diplomat, first and foremost. Assassination, much like spying, is merely one of many, many useful tools of a Diplomat suitable for getting the advantage they are looking for. For pushing the other side into the right direction for instance."

"Somehow, I always thought diplomats were more...peaceful." I gestured arbitrarily, looking at the boy in new light. To think that he was this skilled this young...and he had to be for MBI to use him in such a way.

"Hardly." Aizen gave a short laugh and even the Russian bishop gave a thin smile. "Diplomats may not do all of those things themselves, but they are the ones that call for them to occur when necessary. I merely save MBI the trouble of having to hire a separate Diplomat, Assassin and a Field Agent."

"I see." I nodded thoughtfully and then turned to the exit. "Well, if I am not needed-"

"Just a moment Rei." I turned back to Aizen. "There's actually something I'd like for you to do. Although MBI is ensuring Father Vladmir's safety here, his status wouldn't let him come without an escort. But…"

"I would very much appreciate if you could keep an eye on them." A strange expression passed through both the Russian clergyman, Aizen's and Saki's faces, almost as if they were trying not to grin. "I have faith in Yan and Nadezhda but this is their first time here and they need a...guide. They should be at the cafe just around the corner."

"Couldn't they come with you?" I asked, not in a very big hurry to get tour guide duty. "They are your guard after all."

"I am very sure the negotiations would go much smoother without them anywhere near the premises, Rei." Aizen hurriedly assisted the bishop. "Please, just occupy them for the evening until Father Vladimir and I are finished."

"Tour guide...really?" I sighed as I turned once more only to be stopped by Aizen once again.

"You might as well dismiss your driver too." Aizen called out. "Considering when I finish my part, your part will also be over, I might as well give you a ride back."

I paused for a moment, considering the offer, before I nodded and began making my way to the cafe in question after giving a quick ring to the MBI driver of my ride here.


	73. Gate:Watchers

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: I do hope the next part(s) will come soon. But...life is life, one does not know what it may toss at them the very next moment after all.

* * *

><p>Now that I think about it, I could really use a short time-out to consider what I've seen today. What I saw at the 2 churches...it struck a chord in me. I...I wanted to know. I wanted to believe that we, Sekirei, are...well, that we are more than this. That we aren't... It's difficult to describe but I want to hope, no, I want to believe that the Sekirei race is not a shallow bioengineered creation of some unknown 3rd party for even more unknown reasons. That we exist to be more than mere add-ons to our Ashikabi. That we are more than supreme infantry. That we are more then what Miya made us out to be.<p>

Oh sure, she may have never directly said it, but...actions speak louder than words, right? I refuse to believe that Minaka and the rest figured out everything by themselves. Miya must've told them at the very least something. And at most...she's responsible for the whole S. Plan coming to life. Also...she might not have a true Ashikabi and neither does she fight anymore but… Her fanatical love for Takehito reminds me far too much of an Ashikabi-Sekirei bond. A faux, unnatural bond at that. That and...well, she's the Pillar of all currently alive Sekirei. If she truly didn't want us to fight then no one would be able to say otherwise, not Minaka, not anyone. Yet… Yet we have what we have.

Oups, I walked too far while my head was in the clouds, guess I'll have to backtrack… where's that cafe?

Anyway, it's just...not possible for us Sekirei to be so shallow. I mean, I saw Heaven's Feel. I refuse to acknowledge even the possibility that it wasn't made by my race. My Tama claims it to be so. And if Sekirei created something as...otherworldly as that, we were obviously more than what Miya wants to portray us as. We are more than simple servants and unmatched warriors.

I...I believe. I want to, no...I Need to believe that everything would be different if this war didn't exist. That we'd have our own Great Scientists, Musicians, Poets, Architects, Singers, Fashion Designers… Hell, I already know that we do. Akitsu undeniably comes to mind first. Then there's Uzume who always designs her own clothes and each time differently. Then there was that girl who escaped who had a great voice ability. I am sure that we could have all of that, our own Architecture, our own Clothing, our own Traditions...and our own History.

I...I… I stopped in the center of the sidewalk, attracting wary eyes, as I was hit by a moment of brilliance. It was as if a core piece of a puzzle suddenly appeared and fell into place, making all of the other pieces suddenly make sense. I realized what bothered me unconsciously. I realized that I wanted to uncover this mystery. I wanted to find out what Sekirei are, where they came from, how they got here….and most importantly… Why did they disappear? Why are we the last remnant? What happened to a race capable of creating something like Heaven's Feel?

I wanted to know… and then I wanted to restore my race. To be there when they become their own race once more, with their own culture, tradition, architecture, values, beliefs, religion and much, much, much more. I wanted to be there and feel the might of my race, of thousands of millions, maybe even billions of Tamas glowing behind me in a majestic show of ultimate power.

I wanted… I wanted to restore Sekirei to their former glory. I refuse to even acknowledge the possibility of us being inferior to what I dream of. I will find out what happened, ten thousand years ago that brought a once mighty race to less than a handful of vagrants. And then... I will help Kara rebuild it. I will stand with my Pillar and reinstitute the Sekirei-

"Пап, а это кто?" A young girl's voice woke me from my thoughts. "Может она та о ком Отец Владимир говорил?"

"Надя, я же тебе говорил," An older male voice reprimanded the first one. "Не показывай пальцем на людей."

I turned to find myself standing beside the cafe I was trying to get to. Just outside the cafe's doors the pair of people that spoke in Russian stood, a young girl maybe not even teen yet in a nice knee length sky blue dress and a young man beside her that she called dad. Hmm, perhaps not as young as he looks then? The casual jeans, t-shirt and a light opened jacket made him look like he just barely got out of his teen years. So, common sight aside from being Russian? Hardly. They deviated from the surrounding Japanese bypassers clearly, it was like there was something...off about them. I mean, sure having straw colored hair and clear Slavic features was one thing, amidst the sea of black hair, but… I blinked as I watched in no small amount of surprise as parts of the duo before me blurred for a tiny fraction of a second constantly. I don't think any normal human noticed it and it even took me a close look to see it, but looking at them was like looking at something through glass that was being rained on and constantly wiped at the same time. Kind of like looking through the windshield of a car during rain. The girl had these 'spots' appear on her a lot more often and they were bigger in size then the man standing beside her. Considering that I know that the human world isn't as simple as it looked before...and the fact that I know that the Russian Bishop's escort just can't be normal… I'd have to say that the girl either has too much of whatever power that is or that she's too young to control it well yet….or both?

"Sory for zat." The young man smiled at me as he apologized in broken English. "Me girl...my girl? Yes, my girl young, rude. Sory."

"Не беспокойтесь." I waved aside his apology as I came a bit closer, my interest peaked by the strange duo. Perhaps this touring duty will be more interesting than I thought… Also, I really hope that my knowledge of Russian that Archive gave me is going to be enough to ask all of the questions I now have for these 2…

"Да, Епископ Владимир попросил меня побыть с вами, показать вам город." I supported the girl's wild guess that I was the one that the Russian bishop sent.

"А, так вы Рей? Простите но нам не сказали вашу фамилию." I looked at the young dad in slight surprise as he apologized for not knowing my family name. Did the bishop not tell them who I was?

"На сколько я знаю, у моей расы нет фамилий. Я номер 51, Рей." Even as I admitted that I didn't have a last name, I wondered if that was true. After all, we knew nothing of our race...So maybe we at least have an analogue?

"Приятно познакомится, я -" The man smiled and held out his hand for the introductory handshake when he was interrupted by his daughter.

"Вы не человек?" The look of surprise on her features disappeared quickly when she noticed my armour poking out from underneath my haori and quickly began to flood me with questions. "Вы сказали раса, да? Значит что вы не человек? А вы Дозорная или может быть вы из Клановых? А вы из Великого Клана или из Младшего?"

"Надя!" The man exclaimed in exasperation, his outstretched hand dropping as he turned to his daughter.

"Но мне интересно!" The newly named Nadya pouted. "Я же в первый раз здесь!"

"Будешь так себя вести то это будет и последний!" The man crossed his arms as he tried to reign the kid in with threats of never coming here again. Meanwhile, I wondered what the girl meant by her questions. I mean, sure enough, I wasn't human, that was easy to confirm, but what are these Clans she mentions, both Great and Minor? What did she mean by 'Watcher'? Is that also a race or something like these Clans she mentioned? Or is it a title, a description, what is it? Better save the kid though before the angry dad really does decide to go through with his threat and I am left behind with all of these unanswered questions. These 2 aren't going anywhere until I satisfy my curiosity. There's a new side to this world opening up right now and I'll be damned if I let such a knowledge opportunity escape me.

"Не надо не кого наказывать," I let out a small laugh, hoping that he takes my plea and doesn't enact his threat. "Я не против вопросов, все таки я буду вашим путеводителем."

They both relaxed in relief at my conciliatory words and the girl's eyes lit up when I said that I'd answer her questions.

"Но у меня также есть и свои вопросы на которые я бы хотела получить ответы." I internally prayed that they accept the question for question offer. "Так сойдет?"

"Да, да, конечно." The young dad agreed easily to my request. I do wonder just how much I can ask… Supposedly MBI and the Russian Orthodox Church are currently allies but I somehow very much doubt they'd give away any important secrets. Let's see if I can make do…

"Но сначала," The man once again held out his hand, trying to redo the whole introduction as if nothing interrupted it. "Давайте познакомимся нормально. Я Ян Городецкий."

"А я Надя!" The young girl introduced herself cheerfully and then hurriedly gave her full name under her father's disapproving stare. "То есть, Надежда Городецкая."

Even as I shook Yan's and Nadezhda's hands I thought of the weird way his daughter's name is synergized. I mean, when translated literally, her first name is 'Hope' and her last name is either 'city' or 'cityman'. So her name is 'City's Hope'? How interesting. Of course, I may be either looking too deep into this or even straight off wrong as I hadn't really had a chance to use the Russian I inherited from Archive much… Actually, scratch that, I can count the number of times I used that particular knowledge in a real conversation on the fingers of my right hand. Gods, I really hope I don't screw this up and the trip goes well...

* * *

><p>"So, how was it?" Aizen asked me the moment I took a seat beside him in the MBI car. "Did you have fun?"<p>

"Hmm… you could say so." I leaned back on the seat, closed my eyes and let out a tired sigh. "It was a...interesting day all in all."

"It's truly fascinating just what these 'Twilight Watchers' can do, hmm?" I heard Aizen snicker before he continued. "And to think that Nadya is nowhere near the peak of her power yet…"

I frowned, a memory surfacing up on those words.

* * *

><p>"Hand over your money and valuables or we'll hurt you. You wouldn't want your little girl to get hurt now, would you?"<p>

"..." I honestly didn't know what to say. I mean, how is there still crime in the city where the person you are trying to rob can turn out to be a Sekirei? Hell, the moment 2nd Stage began, the number of criminals in the city didn't just take a nose dive, no, it was shot out of the sky by a cruise missile! The moment corpses of criminals began to litter the streets, everyone with half a brain just upped and left instantly… this sure does say something about the idiots around us though…

"Пап, а можно я с ними поиграю?" Nadya asked Yan who stood there looking just as surprised as if he saw a talking cockroach. Amazing, yes, but hardly something you'd want to actually talk to.

"Ну пожалуйста!" Nadya kept bugging her dad to let her 'play' with the 6 imbeciles around us. "Я даже попробую их не сломать."

"Oi! Shut up, bitch!" One of the walking soon-to-be-really-dead idiots raised his gun at the pre-teen girl. "Can't ya even speak properly ya fuckin foreigner?"

"Мда…" I finally moved, raising my palm to cover my face in exasperated face-palm. "Делай что хочешь. Все одно, не жильцы они."

"Давай, Надя." Yan sighed before he gave his daughter the go ahead, apparently agreeing with my remark about these 'dead men walking'. Nadya cheered, causing the thugs to frown and grow angry at being dismissed so casually.

"Hey, are you deaf you stupid, fuckin foreigners!?" The thug with the gun pointed at the whooping girl asked. "I said - what the-!?"

Suddenly, Nadya's shadow rose up and consumed it's owner, making the girl effectively disappear from sight. Even I could only see a massive see through smudge that suddenly shot off to the thugs behind us with ludicrous speed. The centermost thug had all of half a second to start opening his mouth before the smudge reached him. Not losing any speed, Nadya grabbed the man and jumped up before tossing him in the garbage bin.

"What the fuck is this shit!? Boss, what's goin on!?" The men yelled in fear as they watched a torn off leg hover in the air, blood sprouting from a short lived fountain, before dropping down on the ground. It's previous owner on the other hand, laid compacted - and very obviously dead - inside the aforementioned trash bin. I, on the other hand, could see Nadya better now, the smudge that was her dropped the leg with an odd disappointment almost. Beside me, Yan sighed and muttered something about a lot more training for the kid in Russian.

Meanwhile, Nadya once more moved, grabbing the nearest thug and throwing him into his buddy who stood a couple meters back. I think she tried to do it gently as the man flew slower than the first guy but it didn't seem to help much as he slammed into his partner with such force that the receiving man was nearly splattered across the wall he stood next to. Judging by the fact that we could see a painting of his brains on the wall now, this one is very dead too. The projectile fared better, if his broken arms with bones jutting out like spikes counts. At least he seemed alive, even if he almost instantly passed out from pain.

"S-stop it!" Both Yan and I turned to the final 3 thugs left, each one holding a gun in their wavering hands as they pointed at us. "Damn it, die you freak fucks!"

I scowled as I transitioned into the Spirit Realm. I had no intention on entering this fight, I wanted to see the little girl handle it. Turns out, I shouldn't have bothered to, as Nadya did handle it. A shadowy barrier rose to cover both me and the calm looking Russian who looked like he saw this shit every day. The barrier easy took all the bullets the bandits fired at us and then, after they ran out, suddenly moved towards them, accelerating to the speed of a highway car in a couple of instants. The unfortunate remnants of the gang didn't even have a chance to scream as the barrier passed through them and dissipated.

What an interesting ability, I thought as I watched them collapse like broken puppets, their own bullets forced into their bodies. I wonder why only the bullets interacted with the wall. Why didn't she just splatter them with the barrier? Was there a restriction or something?

* * *

><p>Also, according to Nadya's father, the pre-teen girl had the potentual to reach something they called 'absolute zero' a state of power reached by so few that they could be counted on the fingers of 1 hand throughout the entire history of the Twilight Watchers.<p>

"She is incredibly strong." I acknowledged. "At the height of her power she might even defeat Miya."

"Miya…" Aizen grimaced like he was offered to eat a bucket of fresh lemons.

"...There's no way that that girl can beat Number 1." Saki said as a matter of factly. "She couldn't even beat me when we had a practise match."

"To be fair," Aizen took the opportunity to hug his Sekirei tightly. "Very few can defeat you. The only ones I know for sure is Miya and Karasuba."

"...And Akitsu." He added as an afterthought, causing great surprise to me as Saki lowered her head in shame. Obviously there was a backstory to this -.

"What do you think of them as people, Rei?" Aizen interrupted my train of thought suddenly.

"Uhm…" I thought to all the things that happened during the half of the day I've spent with the father-daughter duo. "Yan is a man that can be trusted to do anything that is best for his daughter. Other than that, he's a pretty nice guy… I didn't see him use his powers even once though so I don't know about that aspect."

"As for Nadya…" I paused once more, arranging my thoughts. "She's...sheltered. In an odd way. Most of the things we saw made her more excited then a sugar high kid. Yet combat and killing is obviously not new to her. I don't have a solid opinion on her really… I mean...she's a kid."

"Why the question?" I asked after Aizen merely nodded and proceeded to meditate by staring out of the window.

"I happen to be their host for the next little while." Aizen said absentmindedly, still thinking on something. "In return for their support, the Twilight Watchers want to establish an outpost here. Both of their factions in fact, Day and Night Watchers for once agreed on something and decided to implement their agreement into life… And guess who MBI wants their Diplomat for those 2 to be?"

"Uhm, 2 things." I said, puzzled. "What is this Day and Night Watcher thing and why those 2?"

"The Twilight Watchers separate into 2 factions based on their inner principles that are decided during their Initiation. Those who live for others are Night Watchers and those who live for themselves are Day Watchers." Aizen explained, humour in his voice. "Honestly, the whole thing sounds bizzare, much less the fact that they got their naming convention wrong if you ask me. Still, it seems to make perfect sense to them so who am I to judge?"

"Okay and where does Nadya and Yan come in this?" I slowly said, wondering if I should've just kept quiet. Seriously, information overload today. Not only are there descendants of Sekirei who managed to keep their powers more or less intact but they also formed entire clans if not races!

"Nadezhda Gorodetskaya is quite possibly the greatest Day Watcher to ever live." Aizen said seriously. "She's young now, but in the future she'll become a being of such caliber that it's quite possible that the world will revolve around her."

"And they send her out here?" I deadpanned. It makes about as much sense as me winning the war only to deny the wish in the end. What the hell is the point of raising someone who will quite possibly control the world later only to toss her into a warzone?

"Trust me, I don't know why either." Aizen rolled his eyes.

"Maybe they want her to gain some experience?" Saki offered an alternative view. "They send her with her father to a place, even if a bit dangerous, that is entirely controlled by allies that can't afford to lose their support at all. Minaka did order us to protect them with our lives after all, Aizen."

"Maybe." Aizen shrugged. "That theory does have some merit, and the fact that her father happens to be one of the most powerful Night Watchers does support it."

"Is he really that strong?" I raised an eyebrow, Yan didn't do anything after all.

"Apparently he's one of the very few Watchers who can reign her in through sheer power alone and that's without the combat experience that he has in droves apperently." Aizen mused. "That and he's her father, the only family she has left, so as a Day Watcher, she'll never do anything to hurt him."

"I thought you said they were selfish?" I asked leisurely as I stretched on the leather seat.

"No, it just means their view of the world is askew." Saki answered my question before Aizen could. "To them it's: My things, My values...My family. According to Father Vladimir, they make some of the most strongest and loyal families. She'll absolutely destroy anyone who so much as threatens her dad."

"Huh…" I fell silent, thinking on what Saki said. It's interesting… The whole Day and Night Watcher thing is almost like someone split a Sekirei's personality into 2 pieces. Both the whole 'live for self' and 'live for others' is something akin to the whole Sekirei-Ashikabi bond, just on a much grander scale. To think that our kind could eventually evolve into something like the Twilight Watchers...

A glint of light caught my eye and I focused on the boy sitting opposite of me, staring out of the window again. It seemed like he was absentmindedly fiddling with something in his hands and generally I wouldn't have cared but… I saw Saki's expression as she stared at this object, hidden from me by her Ashikabi's hands. That strange mix of resignation and resolution on her features made me wonder, just what is that?

"Interested?" Aizen noticed my inquisitive gaze and smirked before tossing the object into my hands. "Take a look."

Sharing a look of surprise with Saki, I turned my eyes downward even as I opened my hands to reveal a small round medallion. It was painted black with a white insignia etched on top. A vertically bisected triangle with 7 eyes in 2 columns inside. Four on the right, 3 on the left...what a strange design. The backside was exactly the same, showing nothing new.

"What a strange design...what is this?" I gave it back to Aizen, a strange expectant look in his eyes making me do it slowly. Was it a test from him or something? Well, considering the fact that the expectant expression he demonstrated vanished and a shadow of what looked like disappointment flickered across his features, I guess I failed it.

"It's... a keepsake." Aizen looked at it with an unreadable expression before a thin, humourless smile twisted his features. "And yes, it most definitely is strange…"

* * *

><p>"Thanks for the ride." I nodded in thanks before reaching for the door.<p>

"Good luck in the Fourth Stage." Aizen reached out with his right hand for a parting handshake, his eyes dead serious under the soft light of the car's interior lamps. "Once you reach the top, take a pause and look back. Look back at the journey, the friends and the enemies. I've heard that the view at the top can be quite...blinding."

"Thanks, and I will." My tone was just as serious as his as I got out and then watched his car take off before I turned my head upwards.

'Tonight is a fine night to take the direct route to my floor', I thought, my right hand gently wrapped over a small rectangular object.


	74. Gate:Instructions

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Sorry for the long wait, but the 4th Stage is really...difficult... to write. You'll see why once I post it. I should be done soon, if not, I'll start posting the chapters of the 4th stage as I write them. Enjoy.

* * *

><p>I almost made it to the door when the Bluetooth in my earrings vibrated, signaling a voice message. I paused and then redirected my left hand from the doorknob it was about to touch to instead press on the small button disguised as a pommel stone of my sword earrings.<p>

"The Jinki is out." Akitsu's cool and tired voice came through in barely more than a whisper. I froze, ignoring the machine's offer to repeat the message again, my mind racing, any thought of sleeping forgotten. Now that the final Jinki is in physical form once more, I am willing to bet my own swords that Minaka will start the Fourth Stage as soon as physically possible. Hell, I won't be surprised if it started right away, with the whole city as the final battle zone…

No, that wouldn't make sense. No doubt Minaka wants us to go elsewhere, probably somewhere remote. Remote enough that he won't be able to communicate with MBI normally. It'd make sense, the whole setup with Russian soldiers and fleet practically outright stating that he'd be overseeing the Fourth stage directly.

I hesitated for a couple seconds before I pushed the button again, playing the message that just arrived. I cringed immediately afterwards as I heard the voice of the very last person on Earth I wanted to hear right now.

"Tomorrow, 10 am."

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><p>I looked out of the heavy transport helicopter window, just staring at the endless ocean of blue and equally endless pale blue sky unmarred by any cloud; the two infinities meeting in a white line at the horizon. Amidst this palette of blue, the 8 black MBI transport helicopters stood out like smudges of black ink splatters, ruining an artist's canvas. We were still an hour or so away from Kamikura Island where Minaka stated the Fourth Stage will occur. Despite most of us going to bed only at around 4 am, we still remained wide awake and very alert, the stress and anticipation of what was about to occur weighing down upon on us like jagged boulders.<p>

Tch, it's truly ironic just where the Fourth Stage will take place. The very Island that is our birthplace… and our graveyard. The barren, absolutely dead wasteland that we first saw…and where our kin lies, dead and awaiting their resurrection. I felt a pained frown cross my face as I remembered the statistics I glanced at yesterday. Out of 100 and 8 Sekirei… more than half returned back onto the ship they were born on. Just under 50 'contestants' remained alive and almost all of them, 38 to be exact, will participate in the Fourth Stage. That meant that I have failed more than half of the original Sekirei born. And chances are…by the end of the day, that number…

Just how many more feathers will return to the nest ship today… How many more will perish, not one of them ever seeing what they fought for?

'Heaven's Feel…' I thought to myself, as I stared upwards into the sky, imagining the magnificent city-ship. It's up there, somewhere, the gigantic Sekirei city, empty and forlorn, waiting to be claimed.

'Waiting…for us.' I bit my lip softly. The Disciplinary Squad might be one of the smallest teams in the upcoming fight, but I'll be damned if we aren't one of, if not The, strongest team. Not to mention…numbers may be a quality of their own… but there are ways to change that and we have spent much of last night planning on just how we may do that. But honestly, it's all irrelevant. We are the Disciplinary Squad. We Cannot lose. We simply, cannot. Far too much depends on us for us to fall here, on this desolate rock in the middle of the ocean.

Even now, as we – hmm? What's this? I pulled out an armoured, bulletproof holo-tablet I carried in a small pouch hidden in a sealable compartment in the armour on my thigh. An email? From Dai? Hmm, a file called 'Ashikabi-2', interesting, just what is this… A file created by Akitsu several months ago that she edited just an hour ago? Dai wrote that she found it only because Akitsu opened it to edit it as it was far too well hidden otherwise. So well in fact, that there was no online copy anywhere, Dai had to copy the data as it streamed onto Akitsu's tablet… I suppressed the urge to rub the bridge on my nose. I may not know much of this computer stuff and even less of hacking…but I am pretty sure what she pulled off was supposedly impossible. Well, I thought so anyway.

Opening the file, I was tempted to scratch my head in the confusion at what I saw. Eight Names, eight Titles. Each pair with a gigantic line of numbers and letters, each one spanning a good half a page or more. A second code? If so, it seems that Dai couldn't crack it and sent me what she had as she was running out of time. And what she did send me was… well, I was very much interested in this. And I now had one hell of an interest in learning just what the rest of the coded message was.

Seo Kaoru, The Inhibitor. Hayato Mikogami, Ashikabi of Bonds. Higa Izumi, The Beacon. Sanada Nishi, Ashikabi of Power. Yasukiro Aizen, Limitless Ashikabi. Minato Sahashi, Ashikabi of Compatibility. Yukari Sahashi, The Well of Souls. Chiho Hidaka, Ashikabi of Mind.

These titles…are very interesting. Each one implies that each of these Ashikabi are unique and have a special ability or power or something. If we take Chiho as an example, her title and her ability that lets us communicate mentally… Suddenly, these seemingly nonsensical titles become incredibly important. Yet, I don't know what they mean. Akitsu was quite cryptic in naming these Eight Ashikabi. It kind of sucks that I can't ask her about it now as she stayed behind. Hell, if I didn't know what Chiho could do, I would've never guessed that 'Mind' means that she has telepathic powers.

Even after I shared this fascinating bit of information, none of us had any solid ideas. Oh, we had plenty of wild guesses, mostly thanks to Haihane randomly tossing anime related powers and what not, but… guesses. That's literally all we had, guesses. Seriously, what could these titles mean: Inhibitor, Bonds, Beacon, Power, Limitless, Compatibility, Well of Souls? Tch… I appreciate the amount of effort Akitsu put into coding this in case it gets into the wrong hands, but it's quite frustrating to know that the answer is right here, in our hands, and yet we can't figure it out. Sure, knowing that most of our competitors in the next round now have some cryptic as hell power we know absolutely nothing about is a lot more useful then knowing nothing at all… but not by much.

I can only hope that they aren't more proficient with it then Chiho is with hers. Tch, no, of course they would be, we only figured out how to unlock hers literally a couple days ago. If only I had tried this earlier! We could've had weeks to practise! But noo, I-.

"We got this." I looked with surprise on Chiho's hand that held mine before moving my gaze onto the pale but serious and determined looking girl. "We are the Disciplinary Squad. We have a wish we cannot fail. We will win, I promise."

"Yea, big sister!" Beni raised her fist, enveloped in red energy, into the air, her eyes positively glowing red. "We will steamroll the opposition! Because if we don't, no one else will."

We all, bar Uzume and Chiho smiled. Beni in determination, Haihane with a smirk and Kara flashed a blood thirsty smile that reminded me of the first days, long ago now, that I've met her. My smile was grim yet resolute. My little sister was right. It's not a matter of will we win or not. We simply cannot lose. Because…if we don't do what's necessary… then no one else will.

* * *

><p>"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen! Sekirei and Humans! To the Fourth Stage of the Sekirei Plan!" Dead silence followed the White Clown's energetic intro, only broken by the wind howling through the jagged rocks and the ocean's distant rumble. Unlike the super excited Minaka who stood on the 'main' street of Kamikura Town, the 7 groups around him really would've looked more at place at a funeral. Preferably at Minaka's. Not like I can blame them, my group wasn't particularly cheerful either. I mean, what are we here for, outdoor barbeque and free beer?<p>

"Why the long faces? You are but a couple steps away from what you fought for!" Minaka smirked as he adjusted his glasses, their sudden gleam making the whole gesture rather sinister. "So reach out and take your Wish! The Era of Gods is upon us, only the final steps remain! Let us bring it into this world!"

"But first," He suddenly calmed down, discarding his Clown façade for a moment, unnerving practically everyone present who had never seen him like this. "The Stage instructions."

"As you may have noticed, things changed since you've last been here." Minaka did a 360 spin on his heels, his arms out to point at something in the horizon. "More specifically, those towers."

We all looked at the 8 incredibly tall but frail looking towers, almost hovering above the rocky horizon. Their design looked very distinctly alien, I've never seen any design or pattern or architecture in general similar to them. They looked like gigantic, sharp talons, twisted counter clockwise into a straight line. Also, when I say gigantic, I mean it. We could see those things from the air too, we could see them now as well, regardless of distance or what was in the way. No cliff or rock formation was anywhere near large enough to block them out. It's incredible that MBI assembled them so quickly, last time we were here, the island was empty.

"Now, here's how the first part is going to go." Minaka took out a strange crystal that looked sort of like a Jinki but thinner and instead of a flat top it had a shape vaguely resembling a handle. "This, is a key. In exactly 1 hour, I will use it to activate the Ersatz Portal System which will begin gathering energy. Another hour after that, the system will open a portal where I currently stand for exactly 10 seconds or 1 Ashikabi and their Sekirei, whichever comes first. Simple, right?"

"Well, no. Not really." The man smirked at our apprehensive expressions. "Unless all of the Jinki's are in the appropriate towers and locked in, when I turn the key the whole system will fail. Explosively. As in, enough to sink the island back into the ocean it came from. If you look down, you'll see numbers and arrows pointing to the towers. Simply look for the same number as the one on your Jinki and follow the arrow!"

"But wait! It gets better!" Minaka's smirk grew positively evil. "The Portal System is called Ersatz for a very good reason. It's unstable. In fact, it was designed and created precisely for a single, one way portal. And after the portal closes, the towers will meltdown, contaminating the whole island with enough radiation to make nuclear weapons green with envy. So, if you didn't take the portal, you're quite frankly, screwed."

"What of the Jinki?" Kara suddenly asked, nodding to one such object that currently hanged from Chiho's neck like a necklace. "Will they survive this 'meltdown'?"

"Fear not!" Minaka huffed in amusement. "Those little, tiny things are several magnitudes above diamond in structural integrity. According to our calculations, anything short of tossing them into the core of a blue star shouldn't even scratch them! You on the other hand…"

"Yea, yea, we got it." A stripper-punk looking Sekirei wielding wicked looking blades drawled as she chewed bubble gum. "Get on with the program already, ya old geezer."

"Hmm, well then, one more thing!" Minaka twirled the key in his hand, sending light reflections everywhere. "Only the Ashikabi can enter the tower, any Sekirei that tries to do so will instantly terminate due to a certain…field is probably the best comparison."

"And with that," Minaka adjusted his glasses with an excited grin. "Let's begin! The hour-"

"Woah, wait!" We all turned to see Minato hold up 2 Jinki, one in each hand. "I have 2 Jinki, each one on opposite ends of the island! How am I supposed to get there on time?"

Huh, that's actually a legitimate question. If only the Ashikabi can go inside the towers, then giving the other one to his Sekirei wont work.

"Ah yes," Minaka drawled. "That's true isn't it? Of course, I've already planned for this. Aizen will carry the Jinki for your other team."

"Hello everyone." We were all startled when Aizen suddenly materialized, standing right behind his employer. "Nice to meet you."

While everyone stared, surprised, at the boy wearing white dress shirt complete with casual black dress pants and shoes, I tried to find Saki. Considering the way the assassin showed up, his Sekirei must be nearby.

"Oh hi Aizen!" Chiho waved cheerfully at the boy. "How are you?"

"I am doing just fine, thanks Chiho." The boy answered with a charming smile, the whole brief exchange confusing those around greatly. Well, us of the Disciplinary Squad excluded of course.

"You expect me to trust this guy my Jinki and, more importantly, my precious girls?" Minato spluttered in indignation. "I don't even know who he is! I've never met him before!"

"I would be surprised if you did know me." Aizen drawled as he carelessly looked over Minato head to toe. "After all, what would a successful MBI Diplomat such as myself have in common with a freeloader who can't even get into a university? The Sekirei Plan not withstanding of course."

"D-diplomat!?" Aizen's claim sparked quite a few whispers amongst the crowd.

"You're lying boy." A Sekirei dressing in nothing but a bikini and trashy black leather pants with a massive scythe resting on her shoulder stepped out from Sanada Nishi's group. "You're like what, 14? 15? What Diplomat? No one would take you seriously."

"And yet Aizen's contribution towards MBI's and, by extension, your security has been no less than any Sekirei of the Disciplinary Squad." Minaka intervened. "Together, both from shadows and in broad daylight, they worked hard to keep the knowledge of the existence of Sekirei limited to only those who had to know of it."

"I don't care!" Minato waved Minaka's recommendation aside like stray smoke, making the man gape in astonishment for a split second at being dismissed so rudely before he recovered himself.

"You! Aizen!" Minato stepped forward to loom over the calm teenager. "Do you swear to keep my Sekirei safe?"

"I promise only to not get in their way." Aizen replied loftily. "As soon as I deliver the Jinki, I will leave the battlefield and I expect your Sekirei to figure out a way to return to you on their own."

"What?! N-" Minato raised his voice only to be casually interrupted by Minaka.

"Come now, the clock is ticking, we don't have all day~" The man said in a sing-song voice, a maddening grin on his face. Minato spent a few more seconds looking between Aizen and his Sekirei with a frown. Clearly, the young man didn't trust Aizen with his precious Sekirei. On the other hand, he had no choice…

"If something happens to them, I swear I'll find you and make you pay." Minato finally threatened Aizen who merely nodded, looking quite bored.

"Don't worry Minato." Matsu suddenly stepped out of his group, carefully putting her glasses away. "I will bring Musubi and Kazehana back safely."

"Showing your true colours, Lieutenant?" Kara grinned at the cold, analytical stare she got back.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Karasuba." Matsu replied calmly, straightening up and transforming right before our very eyes. It was fascinating just how much difference a change in posture, lack of glasses, different default facial expression and an aura of confidence can make. Quite a few Sekirei, even myself for a moment, were sent into a loop as they tried to piece together the slouched pervert skulking around to this regal, cold woman who looked like she owned the place.

"Ah yes, Number 02, Matsu, the Lieutenant of the First Disciplinary Squad." Aizen gave a polite bow even as gasps in the crowd rang out at the introduction. "I look forward to working with you. Please, take care of me."


	75. Gate:Tower

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: So very sorry for vanishing for a month, but...well...Life. Pretty much the only excuse I got. On the positive side, I finished transferring this act, so prepare for like, a lot consecutive chapters posted.

Note: No, that's not why writing this scene was hard. You'll see why...

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><p>"If I had any doubts that Minaka is insane," Uzume shouted as we rapidly dashed over the rocky terrain, heading to our tower. "I don't anymore!"<p>

"Yea, having nearly half a hundred Sekirei fighting on this island is insane!" Beni yelled back as she chose to smash through a tall rock formation in her way rather than go around. Sixty minutes isn't that little for Sekirei. Plenty of time in fact, to get to one of the towers looming on the horizon…a couple dozen times over. Having an Ashikabi with us didn't slow us down at all as Haihane carried Chiho with her, the wind aiding it's wielder. Frankly, Beni was the slowest Sekirei in the group. Considering both Kara and Haihane could outrace a car if they wanted to and the fact that Uzume's veils gave her superb mobility and she regularly uses them to glide short distances… Well, normally, the slowest ones in the group would be me and Beni. However, considering that I simply ran straight through everything in a completely straight path in Soul Form, I was practically the one at the front of the group as we ran parkour through this island made of nothing but rocks and cliffs. Beni on the other hand had to force her way through obstacles and at the same time make sure to keep enough energy to fight later, shooting her speed to hell.

Well, we all had to conserve our energy really, according to Minaka, a massive free for all awaits us the moment we return. Frankly, I wasn't sure the island will last till the portal opens. When nearly half a hundred Sekirei fight in an all-out brawl… No, not just any Sekirei. They lived up until now, meaning that they were powerful and quite likely-.

"What the fuck?" I exclaimed in surprise as we all stopped after clearing yet another ridge. Said ridge just happened to be the one that separated the rock beach, upon which the tower stood, from the rest of the island. Rocks, cliffs and the ocean trying to wither it all down. The tower stood upon the rocks in such a way that the sharp stone cliffs jutting out around its base resembled a rather sharp looking flower.

And all around that flower, human soldiers milled about. Not just milling about, they were setting up what looked like a small encampment with light armour – amphibious APCs no doubt – getting dug-in in all the strategic locations. Combined with the ships anchored just a few hundred meters away, this was a full on invasion. There was nothing in the air currently though, which is probably why we didn't spot them until we literally crashed in on their party.

"Oh come on." Chiho's head hit Haihane's shoulder as she moaned in bitter disappointment. "Why now!?"

"Haihane." Kara said, her voice full of even steel. "Get Chiho to the tower and then clean up the surrounding area while our Ashikabi does her part in the tower."

"Well," I sighed in minor frustration – how dare these humans get in the way now?! – as I drew my swords, Kara doing the same. "At least this time around we are here to meet them rather than show up late to the party."

"Benitsubasa," Kara tossed a single glance at my sister. "You're artillery and anti-air support. Aim at the ships until the aircraft shows up."

"Understood." Beni cracked her knuckles, pale red aura starting to seep out from her small form.

"Uzume, fire support." Our Captain stated even as we began to move forward. "No prisoners, no survivors."

Even as we dashed forward, a giant rock flew over our heads with a massive crack. It began to fall apart in mid-air, Beni's punch that gave it flight cracking what used be a piece of a cliff into a cloud of shrapnel. Said cloud of sharp rock travelling just under the speed of sound reached the beached boats and transport vessels in a couple seconds, tearing the lightly armoured transports apart and sinking them. Barely had the last piece of that stone cloud landed, another gigantic rock soared into the sky. This one's trajectory was much higher and instead of splitting into a shrapnel cloud, it split into 4 or so large pieces that quickly traveled through the air to the nearest ship that stood anchored near the island.

A moment later, Uzume's lances began to flash through the midday air with rhythmic sonic booms, easily puncturing through the measly fortifications the soldiers managed to set up. Before Kara and I made it to the frontline though, we had to split to avoid a hail of bullets and other ordinance we were liberally sprayed with. Whereas I faded into the Spirit Realm and simply dashed forward, Kara couldn't ignore the tiny messengers of death and had to do rather impressive movements to not just dodge whatever headed her way, but to also move forward.

"Scatter!" The moment I got close, the human officer barked an order, staring at me hatefully. Hmm, considering it was done in English and the fact that this close I can see the small flag pins on their uniforms, as well as gear design and what not, I am willing to bet that these are Americans we are fighting here. Bah! I knew I was right! Damn bastards attacked us!

The moment I phased back into the Living Realm to hack at the soldier before me, I had to instantly phase back. The officer fired his under barrel grenade launcher at me! Solid strategy though, sacrificing 1 man to try and get me. I had to give it to the man, he was unrelenting in his efforts to get me. After 2 tries, I simply abandoned trying to kill the rest of his squad and went straight after him. The Hispanic man stared at me defiantly, his hands deftly reloading his grenade launcher and in a second ready to fire once more, ready to take me with him the moment I appear back in the Living Realm. Pity I didn't see his expression as I charged through him, materializing for a moment, my blade phasing back into reality right in his skull, practically exploding it. I didn't even bother looking back as the man fell over heavily and instead charged the rest of his squad.

With their commanding officer dead, the rest of the humans defending this position fell in seconds before I turned to charge the next position. Said position was currently trading bullets and rockets for silk lance-arrows with Uzume and I can't say that they were getting anywhere near a good bargain. Before I could take more than a couple steps though, a missile speared through the air and buried the location from which Beni threw her rocks in a cloud of dust and fire. I spent a moment to trace my bond to Chiho, feeling her emotions. If Beni was hurt, my Ashikabi would know instantly and through her, the rest of us would too.

I let out a sigh of relief when all I felt was determination and a hell of a lot of apprehension amidst a myriad of other emotions. Thanks to my Ashikabi being rather emotional, it was difficult to get a solid grasp on any singular emotion. It always came as a 'package' in which I could only tell the emotions apart based on their magnitude compared to others in the 'package'. But considering I couldn't find sadness or shock or anger – well, nowhere near the amount I was looking for anyway – I could take it as a fact that Beni was alright.

So, knowing that Beni was okay, I turned to face the ships she had been bombarding this whole time. Out of the 6 ships that we saw at the start, 1 was missing completely and 2 more were spewing smoke from the twisted and hole filled hulls. Even as I watched, one of the ships that stayed in the back launched another missile that quickly curved to head our way, no doubt to ensure that Beni stayed down. Yet it was not to be as a white lance flashed across the sky to meet it, causing the projectile to explode in mid-air.

Damn fine archery Uzume, I thought as I started to move once more, charging the platoon before me that still exercised in futility, trying to get our White Archer. The swift white figure abused the hell out of her height advantage, allowing the surrounding cliffs and rocks to take the return fire for her.

The instant I reached the men taking cover near an APC that was trying it's hand at cliff destruction, people started to die. Most of them fell in pieces, my blows strong enough to hack off anything I hit, as usual. A few of the more unfortunate ones managed to dodge part of my hit and now laid on the ground, screaming in agony as their guts tumbled out or slowly suffocated as their ribcages, carved open by my blades, failed to properly inflate their lungs. Those I left alone to die on their own, their mortal wounds were more than enough to finish them off eventually. The ones who were skilled or lucky enough to only lose a limb or 2 I had to strike again, making sure to follow my Captain's command. Speaking of my Captain… I hacked off the left wheels of the APC, destroyed the turret and warped the escape hatch, rendering the vehicle an immobile steel coffin, before I glanced about the battlefield.

Let's see… I don't see Haihane but I definitely see the broken and shredded corpses all around the tower, most of them little more than piles of meat. Beni was trading fire with what looked like a battleship, slowly winning as the steel behemoth slowly retreated, unable to fire back with full power for the fear of friendly fire. Uzume was hiding again but flashes of white and the booms that pierced the air clearly told me that she was quite busy. Kara…well, I can see the half dissolved pieces of flesh and steel of those she hit. There were far too many to count but the half corroded APCs and light armour that littered the field counted at least a dozen.

Ah, there she was, entering what looked like a field Command Center, it's guards rolling on the ground in agony as the corrosion ate them alive. I should probably join her, the enemy is broken and fleeing, their vehicles destroyed. But first…

"Gate:Nova." A searing wave of blue fire washed over the disabled APC. Even as I jogged away, the screams of the crew cooked alive in their coffin ended when the munitions inside exploded, shredding the vehicle from inside out. I may do many unsavoury things in the name of my kind, but even I am not that cruel as to leave those men to starve to death or of thirst inside the cramped metal box.

Along the way I stopped to quickly end a squad that was trying to sneak away. Much to their misfortune, some of them made a mistake of glaring at me hatefully, trigging my Ill Will sense. Truly, this Sense that I had spent so long to develop was a veritable diamond mine of usefulness. Not only could I dodge blows using it, I could also find anyone who emitted Ill Will towards me, or as Kara called it, 'Killing Intent'.

I used Gate:Open on myself just in time to hear a bullet pass through my head, the projectile harmlessly ricocheting off the rocks and flying off somewhere. I turned to the area this sniper holed up in. Somehow, the man managed to avoid getting spotted by my Ill Will which showed that he was a professional sniper. It's fairly rare, but I have met people who managed to occasionally to not trigger Ill Will until the very instant of their attack. I've never figured out how they do it, but most professional snipers seem to have it and I've also fought a few martial arts masters the few times I've went to China. Snipers may be more dangerous for the initial shot, but bullets have travel time after all… The martial arts masters on the other hand…well… the first time, 1 of them surprised me so much that he even managed to break a pair of my ribs before I snapped out of it and just set the whole room on fire with Gate:Nova. I still remember how Kara laughed while bandaging me up that time.

Snipers on the other hand… After that initial shot, they stand really no chance as proven by this young black man who died, staring into my eyes coldly the whole time even as he hanged on my blades. Such dedication…

Regardless, by the time I made it to the Command Center, it was all over. Kara leaned against the rails as she watched the retreating ships with a thoughtful expression.

"You were right." She said suddenly, still watching the ships as I approached. "The Americans and the Japanese have started the 3rd Invasion."

"Japanese?" I murmured to myself before my eyes widened. "Shinto Teito! We have to warn them!"

"Can't." Kara said offhandedly, still leaning against the metal rail with an air of laze. "The Americans shot down MBI satellites and created a dead zone around the island. The MBI fleet is currently being dismantled on the other side while the American marines are landing all around the island."

"The towers…" I felt my eyes widen in realization. "We have to secure the towers! If they are landing on the beaches then-!"

"It's too late." Kara said, her voice strangely relaxed, as she took out a pocket watch from deep within her cleavage and tossed it to me. Surprised, I opened the old fashioned thing to find the time to be less than 5 minutes to the end of the hour.

Huh, so we got about maybe 3 or 4 minutes to live…and I can't even hide us in the Spirit Realm. I won't get to everyone on time thanks to the communications shot to hell. I can't get Chiho either as I have no idea where in the tower she is, the damn thing is somehow interfering with our bond. I can sense that she's in there and I can still feel her emotions through our bond, but I can't focus on her location, it just doesn't work. The Golden Sun, once so clear to me, is now clouded by something.

So instead, I chose to examine the old pocket watch that Kara tossed to me. It looked…ancient. Well looked after, but the myriad of scratches on the metal and the weathered look of the engravings on the lid told of its history.

Hmm, a stylized black eagle with spread wings looking to the left and holding a circle with a slanted swastika inside. The words 'Deutsches Reich' on the top and 'Deustchland uber alles' on the bottom are engraved around the rim of said circle. Huh… 'German Empire' and 'Germany above all'? Why does Kara have a German pocket watch that looks like it may have been made during World War 2? I thought the humans disliked any mention of Germany during that time period… Who could've gave it to her?

"It's a…gift, from Dietrich." Kara explained to my silent question, turning back to watch the ocean, the silver pocket watch back in her grasp as she turned it over and over absentmindedly. "A family heirloom, or so he said. I don't usually carry it for fear of breaking it but… These are the final Stages. So…"

"He told me that his family had a tradition of passing down a pocket watch from father to son for the past 400 years." Kara continued after a brief pause, taking the time to open the small piece of machinery slowly as she stared at the final seconds count down. "This…is merely the latest variation of it."

Huh, to think that Dietrich's family was that old, was he aristocracy or something? Also…father to son? Why did he-.

A loud, low rumble that seemed to echo in my very bones, rang through the entire island. For a moment, the very air stood still and not a sound could be heard and then…

"Woah…" I stared at the gigantic pillar of black light that the tower emitted. It was as if someone took a paint brush dipped in void black and just swiped from the tower to the sky above. Well now, I know I've seen everything. I mean, really? Black Light? How the hell does that even work?! I pondered all of these questions absentmindedly, in the back of my head, as I stared, limp from relief, at the 8 beams of darkness embellished against the blue sky.

"Looks like our immediate doom is put on -." Kara started only to interrupt herself as a trio of jets appeared, flying low over the cliffs. Another second and each one unleashed a volley of missiles. Practically instantly afterwards, a huge cloud of debris shot off from the ground, courtesy of Beni, to knock them out of the sky in an explosion of dust and fire. However, we could do nothing but watch as the missiles hit… A shield? An odd, golden shield composed of a myriad of hexagons flickered into existence around the tower. It lasted for a few seconds after the impact and then slowly faded away back into invisibility, something telling me that it was not gone at all…

"As I was saying," Kara continued on as if nothing happened. "Now that the first part is done, let's move on, we only have an hour."


	76. Gate:'Negotiations'

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Turns out we didn't get away from this skirmish unscathed. Although Kara and I didn't get a single scratch, Haihane had to take a bullet for Chiho. Thankfully, the rifle round did little more than infuriate the Sekirei. Her bandages, filled with wind inclined power, deflected the bullet just enough that all she got was a bloody scratch that spanned the length of her side. Similarly, Uzume also only had a bunch of scratches from the rock shards that flew everywhere as our White Archer hid behind the rocks that took fire for her. Out of everyone, it was Beni who took the most damage. One of the enemy volleys apparently came too close and not only buried her under rock but also managed to knock her out briefly. As she stood right now, her kimono was in such tatters that she simply ripped it off, more content in staying in her clingy bodysuit. That same suit that saved her from a myriad of scratches and bruises, couldn't do much to protect her hands that looked quite red right now as she used them to shield her face from the far too close explosion.<p>

Before we headed out, Uzume bandaged up herself, Beni and Haihane while Beni took a pain numbing pill to abstract herself from the pain in her burnt hands. Of course, this situation caused no little amount of grief to our Ashikabi who dashed about, trying to make them feel better somehow. Still, after 5 or so minutes we could spare, we had to move out and fast. Not only are there humans crawling all over the island now, we had other Sekirei to watch out for. Due to Haihane's injury, Kara had to carry our Ashikabi, the petite girl seemingly not slowing down the Black Sekirei at all.

Speaking of humans crawling all over the place… They really were everywhere. All along our path we came across patrols, convoys and just other miscellaneous groups of Americans. At first, we destroyed everything we came across. Soldiers, vehicles, helicopters, jets… However, when, shortly after destroying a fairly large convoy that took us several minutes to scatter, we were nearly killed by a trio of cruise missiles we decided to move more stealthily. In practise, this meant that the rest of the group dashes by the surprised soldiers and before they can open fire, I came in, destroyed a vehicle or 2, killed several men and then escaped through the Spirit Realm before they could come to their senses.

The tactic worked quite well, the marines just didn't have the time to shoot at the sprinting group that quickly crossed their path through the gigantic boulders and cliffs that made up the island. And before they could start chasing, I'd come in and suddenly, they couldn't chase my group anymore, not with the random chaos going on everywhere thanks to a Gate:Nova or a Gate:Random. The fact that a couple times, instead of reinforcements the men cried for, a missile strike came only served our goals so much more. It may be a good strategy to try and kill us by sacrificing these squads, hoping that they keep us occupied long enough for the missiles to get there, but it doesn't work now that we changed our tactic.

Still, regardless of our best efforts, we could clearly see that the island was quite literally flooded by enemy marines. Now, that wouldn't be so bad, considering they had no heavy weapons, only hand held rocket launchers and amphibious APCs, but they were part of a fleet. A fleet with 4 aircraft carriers, parked around the island. Although their sea to land capabilities were limited to missiles and multi purpose jets, that was more then enough for us. As far as I remember, from the time I sank my first aircraft carrier, these floating skyscrapers housed nearly a hundred flight craft. So they can literally keep tossing those...what the hell?

We all stopped upon making to a ridge from which the heart of Kamikura Island, the Kamikura Town, could be seen. Except we couldn't see it at all. A gigantic dome of mist, spanning what must've been a 10 or 20 kilometers, hid the entire dale. We could see groups of infantry and vehicles occasionally roll into the dome from practically all sides. Yet...nothing. The dome hung undisturbed, calmly letting everyone in yet...we couldn't see, nor hear for that matter, anything come out of it. Even the jets that circled around the dome and occasionally a few would dip in...even those didn't come out of the seemingly solid white dome of mist. Alas, we had no choice but to enter, we had just over 40 minutes left after all, time was really not on our side. And so...we ran in, the rocky terrain hiding us from sight.

At first the visibility was so horrible that it was sort of like moving in milk. The sounds also suddenly cut off, leaving only our own breathing behind and even that dissipated so quickly I couldn't tell if it was a hallucination or truth. After all, the sounds of our own footsteps didn't reach us at all… It was...terrifying truth be told. Nothing but the hands of your companions to feel. Nothing but even white fog to see. Nothing but the illusion of hearing your own breath to hear. After a while, I felt as if I was going blind and deaf from the lack of...well...anything.

When Chiho's supportive message came through the bond, riding on a river of emotions as always, I almost laughed in relief. I could certainly feel a relieved smile appear on my face. I wasn't alone, the feeling of the hands of my companions in my hands wasn't an illusion. I wasn't losing my mind.

Slowly, so slowly that I at first thought I imagined it, the fog lifted and finally became a standard thick fog, not the milk we walked through. We could see maybe 5 or so meters before us but that didn't matter to me. What mattered to me is that I could finally see my family around me. Chiho smiled in understanding when I, and then the rest of us, mobbed her in a group hug. As we stood, just drawing support from each other, I realized that I could finally hear now too. The dull thuds of explosions, the muffled cracks of gunfire...the sounds of war. They sounded so distant that I couldn't tell how far they were...yet they should be very close, no? I mean, supposedly, the sounds inside this fog stay inside. So the farthest it could be is maybe a dozen kilometers away? Also...what is this incoming whistling- holy shit!

We all dashed aside to witness a massive transport helicopter smash into the rock ground just a few meters past where we used to stand. The gigantic aircraft crashed heavily and shuddered to a halt after a dragging on the ground for about a dozen meters, surprisingly upright. I watched in fascination as the cause of the crash - a huge gear roughly 2 meters in radius - wrenched itself out of the helicopter and then whistled through the fog covered air back from where it came from. Well, that's clearly Oriha's work. She's the only one I know that uses sharp levitating gears for weapons.

Chiho looked on, tears in her eyes, as we converged on the wreck and quickly tore it apart to finish off any survivors. There was no way to be any nicer about it then to give the misfortunate men a quick - if somewhat gruesome - death. They came here as invaders and they'll stay here as corpses. No hard feelings or anything, this is just a matter of Sekirei security. Leaving them alive will only serve to kill us as they'll backstab us the first moment they got. And Chiho understood that. I could feel just how much she hated the fact that this was the only way through our bond. I could feel her sadness on what had to be done and her self-loathing at not being able to find another way.

Who knows, maybe there is an alternate route to what we must do. It's all a matter of power really, if one thinks about it. Had Chiho more political power, she could've ordered who ever commands these poor dead men walking to fuck off and they'd live. But...for all our personal power, the Disciplinary Squad holds literally no political sway. For one, we had really, really, really bad PR. Another reason, secret groups whose job is mostly assassination rarely hold any political sway so long as they take orders from someone else. Gods, I hate being a chess piece on someone else's board… But that's literally all the Disciplinary Squad is. A chess piece.

Who knows, perhaps in the future, Chiho decides to become an absolute ruler and joins Kara. Then she would have other ways to stop things like this from happening. Until then though, I threw the steaming fresh blood off my blades with a sharp gesture, we'll have to make do with what we can do.

"We should find where that gear came from." Chiho said the moment we gathered once more. "See if they need help."

"Shouldn't we head for the center?" Haihane asked, a bit of surprise showing up on her face. "We have a time limit after all."

"Besides," I added, seeing Haihane's words take no effect. "That was Oriha's gear, meaning that Higa is that way. Considering the amount of Sekirei he has and, more importantly, the amount of powerful Sekirei he has, I really doubt he needs help."

"I don't care." Chiho shivered as she rubbed her forearm. "I know we are supposed to fight each other to get off the island, but I just don't care right now. We are supposed to protect and save Sekirei. That is the purpose of the Disciplinary Squad, is it not? The Island is under attack, the Sekirei here are in danger. That is all we need to know. Let's go and fulfil our purpose, the tournament can wait."

"But what about the - oh!" Beni started only to startle as if she had an epiphany. "The fleet! If we can take over the ships we can evacuate others if something goes wrong!"

Seeing our Ashikabi nod with a pleased smile, I couldn't help but smile myself. Our Chiho really understands the purpose of the Disciplinary Squad. It is exactly as she said, I thought as we began to run towards the sound of gunfire and explosions, the Tournament can wait. We are here to defend Sekirei from outsiders and I am pretty sure this situation applies perfectly.

As we ran, we saw dozens of bodies, some little more than bloody smears on the rocks or piles of shredded meat. Others were more or less intact, merely ripped or sliced in half or...huh… We even slowed down for a bit as we saw some of the more exotic corpses pop up. There were several who had giant hand sized holes were their hearts should be, a few who looked like withered, thousand year old mummies and a couple dozen simply scorched to black. Hell, just by studying these corpses and the dozens of vehicles wrecks we came across, we could get an idea of the powers Higa's Sekirei have. Like, for instance, judging by the characteristic damage of all the helicopters and the couple smouldering jet wrecks, I could safely say that Oriha was their only means of Anti-air. This also meant that she was the only one who had abilities or attacks with sufficient range to hit that high up.

As for the rest, it looks like there is either 1 Sekirei with widely varied fire attacks or 2 Sekirei with different fire based subtypes. There were a few who used unarmed combat, not that it helped the broken and mangled soldiers. At least 3 were using sharp blades of some kind and I am pretty sure that that APC sliced in half was Kaiha's doing. I still remember how difficult it was to block her monstrous strength and that was with her wielding single hand blades! Although now that I think about it, it might've been Oshino with her crazy powers of imagination. I mean, I did see her imagine massive swords when she fought Uzume in her Norito form so this might be her doing.

Still, as interesting as it was, we quickly approached the battle scene and I focused, mentally pushing my analysis to Kara and my Ashikabi who was currently riding on my back. While our Captain merely nodded, either her own analysis was the same or she accepted my hypothesis, Chiho stilled, clearly deep in thought as she thought on what I had sent her.

While our Ashikabi was indisposed, we noticed that the fog began to lift again. Where before we could see maybe 5 or so meters ahead, we could now make out vague shapes at 50 meters. This sudden development figuratively dropped us into a middle of a firefight, surprising everyone involved to various degrees. Amusingly enough, it was the humans that cared the least while our kind instantly turned our way, wary of the change we brought. Granted, the reason the humans cared the least would be the fact that out of what looked like a mechanized battalion, a couple beaten up APCs and maybe 50 or so very weathered looking soldiers were left. As it stood, it seemed that they were doing their best to retreat without panic while Higa's Sekirei pursued them.

Our appearance allowed the humans to turn and get the hell out as their pursuers paused and turned to face us, a new variable in this previously thought to be solved equation. The 5 Sekirei who stood opposing us were clearly Higa's, I've seen them at his hospital before. But why were there only 5 of them? Higa brought more than double that number here, what happened? There's no way that they got killed, I know that Higa got them all to train so they can't be that weak. I can accept the torn and bloodstained clothing as well as the grim, pasty white faces of those who stood before us, but some of them even had scratches and minor gashes, making me wonder if perhaps the rest truly are-

"Well, if it isn't the Disciplinary Squad." Toyotama stated casually as she twirled her staff lazily, looking as if she just got out of a particularly wild ball rather than a battlefield of dozens if not hundreds dead that still littered the field in pieces below our feet. "Hello, Rei."

"Hello, Toyotama." I greeted the green haired beauty back. "How are you liking the Fourth Stage so far?"

"It's...more lively than we anticipated." The Captain of Higa's forces admitted. "Pardon me for my straightforwardness, but is our pact still valid?"

"Yes." Chiho replied simply, standing at ease before 5 beings that just wiped out most of a battalion. "Where is Mister Higa? I wish to speak to him."

"I am here." We all looked up and I personally felt my eyebrows threaten to escape my forehead and hide in my light blue hair. Descending from the fog hidden sky was a gigantic, solid metal gear around which 7 more equally large gears lazily rotated. They must've been at least 5 meters in radius if not more and, from what I could see, about half a meter in thickness. Levitating around the central platform like asteroid rings around a gas giant were hundreds of much smaller disks.

Well, either Oriha used a Norito to create this all, or she managed to gain another subtype in the short time we didn't see her...or both? Honestly, I am leaning towards the latter because even under the effect of a Norito during that fight back at the Third Stage, her abilities were much more modest. Now though… Now I have serious doubts about Uzume beating her, Norito or not… The Gear Sekirei would shred her.

As the gears neared, they rearranged themselves to make a window or a door of sorts facing us. Inside we could see everyone else we missed from Higa's flock, including the man himself who, quite surprisingly, stood in what appeared to be power armour without a helmet and with a pistol in it's holster on his waist. The man got up from his seat which happened to be yet another levitating gear and stepped forward, leaving Oshino, Oriha and Kujou behind.

"Well met again, Miss Chiho Hidaka." Higa calmly began, yet I could see that he tried his hardest to keep his face straight and his eyes off the pieces of humans lying in piles of blood on the solid rock ground we stood on. "It has been a while since we met face to face, hasn't it?"

"Yea…" Chiho on the other hand looked far better and calmer than Higa who slowly got greener as his eyes began to wander despite himself. "Do you know if our...prognosis is proven true?"

"Hadn't had a chance to find out," Higa tried to nonchalantly shrug but his pale green face and grimace broke his efforts. "We were waylaid by these people. What are the United States marines doing here? And, more importantly, why do they aim to kill?"

Higa gestured to the three Sekirei on the other side of the platform, each one bandaged up and either unconscious or sleeping. Had they been killed… Well, in that case, the question of where these people came from would occupy the same place in his mental priority table as finding out whether the Martians are real or not. Something along the lines of 'fuck off; I am too busy killing all of these bastards.'

"What happened?" Chiho asked, genuine concern for the wellbeing of the Sekirei she was seeing for the first time in her life clear in her voice.

"These damned humans attacked us without warning!" Strangely it was Oriha who answered, her voice bitter and spiteful. "How dare they?! Those vermin should all just - "

"Oriha." Higa, to our complete surprise, quitened the girl in the purple and white gothic dress with a single touch. "Now is not the time."

"You, the Disciplinary Squad, on the other hand," He turned to us, his eyes sharp even as Oriha stood still, as if afraid that he'll remember to take away his hand. "What is going on?"

"Humans being humans." Kara shrugged easily, an evil smile on her lips. "They always want to take that which doesn't belong to them by force. We are certain that Shinto Teito is under assault by Japanese and American forces as we speak."

"I...see…" Higa, tipped his head skywards, closed his eyes and rubbed his face tiredly before he looked back to us. "So...what do you intend to do?"


	77. Gate:Higa

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: To post the link to the song I feel is the OST to the next part or not to post...decisions, decisions...

Note: It has also come to my attention that the titles somehow became magically switched. This was intended to be Gate:'Negotiations' while #76 was meant to be Gate:Higa... Oh well.

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><p>"We will win the tournament of course." Kara smirked at their stunned expressions. "Once we do, and we use our wish, it won't matter what's going on currently."<p>

"...What do you mean?" Higa all but demanded as he slowly took a couple steps forward, much to Oriha's dismay.

"It's exactly as Teacher says," Haihane drawled before I could answer, seemingly bored with Higa's ignorance even though I could see the humour in her eyes. "Once our wish is uttered, it won't matter if the rest of the world is in ruins or something akin to that. It'll simply lose meaning."

"What is your...wish?" Toyotama asked calmly, the only one in Higa's group to keep her wits about her it seems.

"We wish to go back in time, before the S. Plan." Chiho's clear voice rang out through everyone present, the girl in question staring at those opposing us with powerful determination. "We will prevent the deaths of everyone who died so far. We will prevent the Sekirei from being used like toy soldiers for Director to play with! We will make the Sekirei race great, once more!"

Albeit the last sentence was surprising, I could see how Chiho came to that conclusion. I mean, we have our group that wishes to preserve our race through practically any means necessary. We also have Kara's whimsical dream of conquering the galaxy. If one adds that and several other various factors together, they would arrive to the same conclusion as our dear Ashikabi.

"Go back in time?!" Suddenly one of the girls on the ground, knives clutched in her hands, called out. "That's impossible! There's just no way that something as unreal as that can be possible!"

"We are promised a Wish." I countered, citing what every Sekirei knows in a clear, confident tone. "Any. One. Wish. No limits."

"Lord Higa." We all turned to see Kujou suddenly get up and kiss her Ashikabi just as he turned to her, stunning everyone in sight with her 2 sand coloured wings. "By my Ashikabi's Will, the waters of the River of Time are cleared."

"Wha- Kujou?!" Higa barely recovered in time for the Sekirei before him to give a shriek of pain and collapse into his arms, blood pouring out of her nose and eyes. "Kujou!"

"I...I see!" The girl feverishly cried out. "The Past made Future ~ it is possible! It is a branch of the River of Time! It is -"

"Kujou, come back to me." Higa interrupted the convulsing girl he carefully held in his grip. "Come back to me, don't go too far. Kujou! Do you hear me!? I order you to come back!"

The girl merely went limp in his arms but the sheer relief on his face clearly stated that his Sekirei was okay. The rest of his Sekirei on the other hand began to whisper amongst themselves, clearly excited by the possibilities opening up to them now that they know that the wish could actually do something as unreal as time travel. Even our group released a collective breath of relief we didn't know we held. Even Kara shifted her posture slightly to a more relaxed one and a true, if faint, smile played on her lips for a couple seconds. I mean, its one thing to be promised any one wish and it's completely another to have an oracle confirm it. Well, we knew that Kujou had to be an oracle now, how else could she see the future?

"Would you like to come with us?" Chiho took a step forward which took the petite girl to stand before us as she faced Higa, her back straight and head held high. Uzume coughed, having choked on her own spit while Beni and Haihane stared with wide eyes at our Ashikabi. Even Kara glanced at her, her brows narrowed.

"...Are you sure?" I nearly fell over in surprise at the response that the man gave after a couple minutes of a tense silence. "You will really take us with you into the new future you wish to build?"

"I swear it." Chiho said simply. "What we want to do is far too difficult to do alone. I will need the help of everyone I could afford to entrust the Sekirei kind with to be by my side. To aid me in this monumental feat."

Both she and Higa seemed to turn into perfectly still statues, staring into each other's eyes, completely ignoring the pandemonium around them. And hell, did they raise one with but a few phrases. Almost everyone present voiced out their surprise and various opinions on this offer of an alliance. Only a few present did nothing of the sort. Kara tossed an amused glance at me and then closed her eyes, waiting for the end of this balagan. Toyotama merely studied Chiho with vacant eyes, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. Amusingly enough, Oshino also ignored the chaos around, instead making sure Kujou is comfortable on a makeshift blanket made of a few jackets near Higa's other wounded Sekirei.

And lastly...there was me. I was still hell of surprised, but my surprise came from Higa actually actively considering the proposal. It was I who offered Chiho the idea of an alliance mere moments ago through our telepathic canal. Oh sure, we had a late night phone call to Higa yesterday but it was nothing more than a temporary truce and a promise not to fight each other until we were last ones. To think that Higa would actually consider accepting…

Higa Izumi… heir of Izumi Pharmaceuticals. The Ashikabi of the East who holds the most Sekirei under his command. A cold, manipulative man willing to do anything to further his own goals which is usually the goals of his company. There is no rule he won't break if it serves him. A damning characteristic… if one looks at it without context.

Higa Izumi certainly used to be a cold, amoral bastard… wait, no, he still is one. But a key part of him changed. One small piece that means nothing to almost everyone else but is world changing to me and my kind. A small detail that suddenly made him someone we could work with, even ally with.

Following the death of one of his Sekirei in a fight with Mikogami, Higa was hit extremely hard by the feedback of the bond breaking. So hard in fact, that everyone noticed the changes wrought in him by this event. We noticed that he began abandoning the company his life revolved around before and instead began to live with and for his Sekirei. It was...fascinating, just how much changing someone's center of life can change the rest of them.

The fact that he showed up with 3 little known Sekirei to the Third battle of the Third Stage was...strange. None of them were known for anything, they were complete unknowns. Yet… Yet each one of those Sekirei proved to be exceptional and together they were undeniably strong. The first impression was that he perhaps was trying to lose the Third battle and thus brought weak Sekirei. The second impression though… Even now, we could see that even though it was Toyotama leading his forces on the ground, Higa trusted Kujou, Oriha and Oshino to be his bodyguards. He trusted these 3 so much that he entrusted his very life into their, very capable, hands.

After noting his interactions with them after the battle and seeing the changes personally during the whole deal… I slowly came to understand that Higa is someone we could definitely use on our side. Aizen's extremely useful data merely added another coin to the pile and sped up the decision making.

"Then I will join you." Higa finally said with serious confidence. "So long as we are equal partners in this alliance."

"Deal." Kara smirked as she gave her approval the moment he finished speaking and began crossing the field, heading for the metal platform. "What are we standing around for? We got less than 30 minutes to conquer the portal."

While she briskly walked across the solid rock field, I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. My lover has sent a very vivid image of her slapping me on the back of my head with the words 'consult me first'. Judging by Chiho's reaction, she got something similar. Although considering she suddenly went red...hmm. Regardless, I followed our leader as she calmly walked onto the platform Higa stood. The man's Sekirei parted ranks before her hesitantly but wasted no time following her up onto the platform itself using a series of gears that Oriha formed into steps.

Even as we all boarded the flying fortress made by Oriha, we found ourselves in 3 groups. To the, relative, left stood Uzume, Haihane and Beni. On the, relative, right beside the injured Sekirei, whom the unconscious Kujou joined, stood most of Higa's Sekirei, conversing in low tones. And in the center of this hovering platform, Chiho and Higa stood, surrounded by their Sekirei. Kara and I stood behind Chiho while Higa had Oshino and Oriha stand slightly behind their own Ashikabi. Who happened to be currently kissing the daylights out of Toyotama, her long green hair streaming down their clothes like a waterfall.

Huh, I was so used to seeing Higa's captain in that stripper outfit that seeing her wear scale reinforced leather armour was quite...disjointing. Oh, it still hugged her every curve and line, promising high mobility but the very fact that she wore armour at all… It was difficult to see it from afar due to a light robe she wore over it but in a serious fight I have no doubt that this easily ditched piece of clothing will be gone in an instant. It was...strange to see a Sekirei who focused on mobility and agility to wear any armour at all. Light armour, true, but...Kara and Haihane wore no armour at all because it gets in the way so does it mean that something changed in Toyotama's-.

"The Fog is changing." Kara suddenly called out, mild puzzlement on her face. We all broke from what we were doing - mainly watching Higa and Toyotama kissing - and looked out beyond the defence cloud of gears. The fog was in fact changing. Whereas it was like being in a vaguely dome shaped cloud, now it really was just a...dome. Our surroundings rapidly cleared up, leaving a dark rocky wasteland that this island originally was. While the dome of fog effectively sealed us off from the rest of the world, for some reason we saw no more Americans anywhere...alive that is. Bodies and smouldering wrecks stretched all the way to the burning town but that was about it… The assaulters must've pulled back to regroup and come up with a new plan.

"Looks like you were right." Toyotama said, apprehension clear in her voice, as she passed a small pair of binoculars to Higa and turned to us. "They have allied."

Shaking my head free of the wonder of just when did she have time to pull out those binoculars and take a look, I squinted at the dale before us. I couldn't see clearly from this far away, but I could make out a moving large scale battle just in front of the burning town. It was most certainly a Sekirei fight with wide scale elemental attacks making the whole spectacle visible from kilometers away. The important thing for us though, was that it was a running battle. One small group desperately doing everything they can to evade and disengage from several other groups on their tail.

"Mikogami...that kid…" Higa sneered, anger deep in his narrowed black eyes. "I am...surprised that he still lives. Our foes must be less capable than expected."

"I don't think we'll make it." Oriha said with savage delight. "This platform is difficult to move, I think it's best if I conserve my power for the real fight."

"No need to tire ourselves out when our enemies are too busy playing with each other." Kara smirked viciously as she casually sat down on one of the floating gears and cross her legs. "It would be just plain rude to interrupt."

It appears that everyone present had a bone to pick with the bratty rich kid who got into the tournament seemingly randomly. Kara disliked him because he was the Ashikabi of Mutsu who she despised for leaving the 1st Squad for seemingly no reason. I could probably bet money that the reason why Higa and his Sekirei hated him was that one of their flock fell to his Sekirei. The fact that they got one of his too seemed not to matter to the vengeful Sekirei, who watched his plight with genuine glee, at all. Haihane, Beni, Uzume and Chiho all really didn't like the fact that it was on his orders that Takami nearly died alongside her slaughtered security division.

So it was with satisfaction that we watched his group get torn apart 1 by 1 by the pack of 'hyenas' chasing them. The fact that they'd be tired when fighting us was only icing on the cake. That is...until the head of the escaping group noticed us and stopped, forcing a temporary pause as everyone on the ground took into the giant, house sized gear slowly floating towards them surrounded by a myriad of other gears. It was then that the figure I recognised as Mutsu grabbed the short guy of the group - Mikogami - and then kissed him, 8 grass green wings coming to life behind him. A moment later, he smashed his blade into the ground and…

"Woah…" Most of those on the platform breathed out, even as the central group frowned.

"He grew in power…" Kara said softly, almost as if to herself. "Did he gain another subtype?"

"Tch, damn last minute surprises." Oriha bit her thumbnail nervously as she looked onto the result of Mutsu's Norito.

"Doesn't matter, we have surprises of our own." Higa said, his voice blade sharp. "Lower us, we don't have the ranged firepower to fight against them. We strike now, while they are disoriented. We must engage in close combat or we will lose."

"Uzume, stay with Oriha and provide ranged support." Chiho spoke, her voice soft even as she squinted, trying to discern anything in the massive dust cloud below. Oriha looked scandalized for a moment until she saw Uzume form her massive bow and notch her lance arrow which just happened to be longer than the gothic dressed girl was tall. It was funny how fast derision and arrogance turned into awe and wariness with a touch of fear.

"Haihane, assassination duty." A single nod was all that the Blue Sekirei gave her teacher before she jumped off the platform, her hands spread out like a bird behind her. I watched, amazed, as Haihane was enveloped by a wind that kept her up as she glided on the airstreams, rapidly gaining height over the battlefield. It was interesting how she didn't really fly. She really did glide, using the currents to change directions and gain or lower altitude.

"Flyer? Should've known you'd have one." Toyotama looked at the gliding figure with measuring eyes. The rest of her teammates were much less measured in their cried of surprise.

"It's of no matter," Higa replied evenly as he checked his pistol's ammo before he turned to his lover. "Unless you wish to soar too?"

"No, it's best that I join the ground forces." The green haired Sekirei instantly shot down the proposition even as she turned to the rest of her subordinates. "Sai, take Kaiha and Shi, you're the Vanguard. Ichiya, you and I are the backup. We need to make sure the Vanguard survives. Oshino is defending Higa."

"Benitsubasa, join the backup." Chiho picked up after Toyotama finished. "Try to stay out of the melee, throw rocks and shrapnel instead."

"Kara…" Chiho trailed off for a moment before smiling at Kara's subtle nod. "Kara will come with the Vanguard. Rei will defend me."

"Remember, no Heroics." Higa said, his voice carrying through the wind as he surveyed everyone. "If you see an opportunity, take it. I will not lose any of you to something as stupid as honour or 'warrior code'."

"You heard the man." Kara grinned, approval clear on her face. "That being said, try not to get in the way. I don't know any of you sorry lot well enough to stop my blade on time."

"And trust me…" Any arguments Higa's Sekirei had died before they could be voiced as they all watched a drop of Kara's miasma corrode through the surface of Oriha's gear in a few moments. "You don't want to be accidentally hit now, do you?"

"Try not to kill my Vanguard now, please." Toyotama asked casually, not even bothering to glance back as her eyes darted all over the dust cloud ahead, searching for something. "Tch. It won't last long enough. Sai, go!"

"Alright!" The girl that I remembered for calling our wish bullshit sprinted over to the edge, followed by 2 more, the familiar berserker with 2 wicked blades called Kaiha and a timid looking girl with dual hidden blades up her sleeves that she was terrible at concealing. Hmm, so the short haired, athletically built knife girl was Sai? She looked like an assassin or a ninja with her tightly fitting black and dark blue clothes. The bloomers and the lack of anything on her legs save for 2 circles of kunai on her thighs and ankles were a bit strange though. High mobility or not, any touch would wound her exposed legs.

Bah, it's difficult for me to figure out these speed types. I could easily see and approve of the scale mail Kaiha wore over her miko dress but she was the odd one out of Higa's Sekirei… Most of them weren't armoured at all, sporting at most an odd piece here and there. Even Ichiya who had wicked looking gauntlets and metal reinforced boots looked like practically a living fortress compared to the wide variety of cloth I saw. Some could be excused, like Oriha with her gears lazily floating around her. Trying to get her with all of these gears around is more or less an exercise in futility, really.

"Wait! Sai, no-!" I turned back from examining Higa's Sekirei to see the ninja girl stab several of her knives right into Oriha's gear as if it was butter and then lash out at her teammates. The metal knife tipped wires instantly bound them and, in a moment, Sai jumped off, dragging her cursing teammates with her.

"Uhm…" Chiho turned to Higa uncertainly, her eyes huge at what she just witnessed. Kara, in the meanwhile, snickered and jumped off the platform after them. Although we were rapidly descending, we were still roughly 50 or so meters above the ground. That being said, the ones I was worried about wasn't Kara…

"Don't worry." Higa nodded at the knives that suddenly wrenched themselves out of the platform and disappeared. "Sai is not just a good fighter; she's also a decent commander."

"Indeed." Toyotama nodded, reassuring our group. "Her methods may seem….strange, but her team showed good results in both practise and combat."

"We better prepare…" I nodded, accepting the answer, and turned back to the stone dale, now almost free of the massive dust cloud raised by Matsu's Norito that created a crater roughly a hundred meters in diameter. "We are next."


	78. Gate:Pain

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Mmm, I think I'll link the song that I feel is a theme for the overall act...

Zircon ft. Jillian Aversa - Just Hold On |Padilion Remix|

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><p>Now that we were close enough for a detailed look over, and the dust cloud thinned enough, I studied the aftereffects of Mutsu's Norito. It was clear that used it to allow himself and his teammates escape but that wasn't what interested me. No, what made me scratch my head metaphorically was the fact that it was strangely similar to Beni's Norito in end result. Whatever he did, punched a hole in the ground, literally pulverizing solid rock into a dark gray dust cloud which only now began to settle. The strength of the blow splashed over to the surrounding rocks as well, creating a crater roughly a hundred meters in diameter. Although the raw damage was far less then Beni's Norito, considering he used it to create a tunnel to escape rather than focus on destroying… I can't compare them. Not really, not right now.<p>

"Ichiya," I turned to look at Toyotama and her short haired companion dash off the platform, heading full speed ahead to support the Vanguard quickly followed by Beni. I thanked Mutsu for the dust cloud mentally. Thanks to his Norito, our opponents were all over the place, confused and disarrayed. And even then, the charging Sekirei were greeted by haphazard missiles of fire, water, wind and…rocks? I could see a trio of the small figures work together to gouge out massive rocks out of the ground and then send them flying. They also tried to regroup but didn't quite make it.

Toyotama knew who to make her Vanguard. While Sai effortlessly dodged the incoming attacks, Shi, Kaiha and Kara merely brute forced their way through whatever headed their way, not even stopping for a moment. In another second they crashed into the defenders like a tsunami, literally smashing their loose formation into pieces. It didn't seem like they killed anyone in the charge and now they were in danger of being overwhelmed. It was a 4 on 15 after all and the second wave was still seconds out.

"Oshino." I watched with slight amusement as Higa didn't bother waiting for the platform to land and jumped off the 15 meter height. He could afford it, his Sekirei caught him in mid-air and ensured he landed safely. He was still in transit when Uzume suddenly drew and fired an arrow; the white lance scarring the shit out of someone who tried to hit Shi from behind. By the time I glanced at the White Archer, another arrow was knocked and about to be released. At the same time as her arrows began to flash across the sky, Beni's red tainted rocks began to shell her opponents. In fact, I flinched as 2 massive boulders collided in mid-air, smashing apart in a truly massive boom. Looks like Beni and the trio of the Sekirei on the other team began to play a weird form of dodgeball with boulders several times each other's size.

"Come on Rei!" Chiho suddenly jumped up and latched onto my back. "Let's go!"

"Good luck." I wished to Uzume and Oriha before I jumped.

For one moment, as we hanged in the air, gravity about to take hold, I had the chance to see the whole situation. Well, I bet only Haihane, who glided above like a massive bird of prey, could see the whole picture, but…

White lances pierced the air with loud sonic booms. Huge boulders soared high through the sky like mortar shells, aiming at targets hundreds of meters away. The gear fortress behind us began to slowly gain height again, it's creator in a hurry to gain advantage for the archer upon it. Only a couple dozen meters ahead of us, our allied Ashikabi sprinted, his bodyguard tense by his side, eager to join the fight. They only had half a hundred meters left to the edge of the massive crater where an equally massive brawl was taking place. The air stood still, trapped by the dome of mist, eagerly transmitting the sounds of battle for all inside to hear.

Dull sun shone above, it's rays warped by the white dome it had to pass through…

And in another moment, time returned to it's usual flow, and nothing, aside from a minor pang of pain in my temples reminded me of that strange moment. If it had been any other time, I'd have probably been curious and thought of this phenomenon, but right now I merely grimaced and shook my head clear of the pain even as I sprinted, carrying my very precious passenger to the battlefield. We all arrived practically at the same time and stopped, staring at our counterparts who stood on the opposite side of the crater.

The 4 Ashikabi and 4 Sekirei guarding them grimly stared back, clearly wanting to be anywhere but here right now. Granted, none of us wanted this. Well, anyone with half a brain that is, I thought as I saw a trio of Sekirei I guessed were Sanada's cheerfully prepare and then throw rocks in Beni's direction while dodging return fire gleefully.

It was interesting thought, how different our opponents were. Although worry was the dominant emotion all 4 clearly felt, there were other interesting emotions mixed in. Fear for her Sekirei was the dominant emotion on Yukari's pale face and had Shiina and Minato not been beside her, I'd wager she'd right in the thick of it with Homura. Her brother on the other hand, watched with an odd sort of acceptance, almost as if he though that he had no control over this and was merely a watcher, waiting, hoping and praying for the best. A vast difference from the man with an open leather jacket on his bare torso, black sunglasses on his forehead that stood beside him. Sanada Nishi stood firm while hugging Kusano who looked strangely fine with being touched by a foreign Ashikabi, a serene expression on his face. I could see that he clearly worried about the trio of idiots, even as they dodged Beni's boulders with giggles, but aside from that, he may as well have been a monk for all the confidence and calmness he showed. The last Ashikabi was Ichiro Ikari, who, for once, wasn't sporting his bow. Not sure why, but that's for the best after all I think. Aside from pissing us off, his arrows would've don't little good. Unlike Uzume's lances that pierce the sound barrier, his were normal human arrows which were just pitifully slow.

Aside from Shiina who stood, half hugging his Ashikabi, and Kusano who looked quite distracted by Sanada, 2 more Sekirei currently looked at us, standing beside their Ashikabi. I nodded with respect in return to the cold gaze of glasses-less Matsu, who found the time to don on her old Disciplinary Squad clothes somewhere and Kazehana who, I could tell, kept an active wind barrier around the group. A few broken lances lying on the ground proved it's effectiveness. She was also the only one who tried to attack us but nearly instantly stopped and instead reinforced the barrier. And not a moment too soon, I grinned as I watched the Wind Sekirei frown at the shredded lance that made it almost half way through the barrier. I raised my eyebrows when she lifter her hand to try again only for her eyes to widen as she hurriedly dashed aside. A moment later, a massive gear buried itself almost 3 quarters of the way into the solid rock she just stood on. Both Chiho and I couldn't help but to laugh at the now rather ruffled looking, pouting woman and then finally turned to the grand battle below.

It was maybe 3 minutes since the start of the fight and already more then 2 thirds of all combatants sported wounds of various degrees. Even though the fight was their 8 against our 6, the battle seemed quite even. Despite the words spoken prior, the fight degenerated into 6 'duels' of sorts.

A bruised and bleeding from several minor cuts Kaiha madly grinned as she chased after a rather beaten and weary looking Tsukiumi. The situation was practically inverse with Toyotama though who hurriedly sprinted away from Yashima, her broken stave occasionally buying her time with energy blasts that Yashima had to either dodge or smack out of the way with her hammer glowing so intensely that it could be mistaken for a blue star. Musubi and Ichiya, both bleeding and bruised, were duking it out, both concentrated on each other, giving it their all. Shi, in half burnt clothes, was doing surprisingly well against Homura who seemed quite vary of her yellow hot blades. With good reason too, I thought as I watched her cut through a wall of fire and absorb the attack with her blades, the whole action taking but a single moment and a slice. Sai, her clothes ruffled and cut in places, circled around Mai who casually watched her foe, a gigantic sharpened rail of a sword resting effortlessly on her shoulder. And finally-.

I felt my eyes widen at the scene. Kara spun in a blade storm of steel, 3 black clothes Sekirei simultaneously assaulting her. Considering I've never seen them before, they must be Sanada's Sekirei as well. I mean, he does have 6 total and the trio of idiots are currently 'playing' with Beni. Regardless, whose they were, that wasn't what made my eyes widen in surprise. It was that Kara was injured! Blood slowly dribbled down her face from a slash on her forehead and she clearly favoured her right leg! How could this be? Some 3 random Sekirei not only hold their own but also managed to hurt the Captain of the Disciplinary Squad?

It doesn't even matter that they are fairly cut up and beaten up. It doesn't matter that the one with the scythe looks like she's holding Swiss cheese rather then a fearsome weapon. No. The point is that they fight her on even ground! True, it's 3 on 1 but the 2 of us taken odds triple that with greater ease! Strangely though, all 4 of them were grinning like mad. Of course, the 4 blood thirsty maniacs found each other. I am kind of relieved at that actually. Had they not attacked Kara, we might've been in trouble. They are clearly must stronger than a regular Sekirei.

And so we stood, Higa and Oshino, Chiho and I, and we could do nothing but watch. We could do nothing but silently support our Sekirei and our allies much like the opposing Ashikabi and their guard.

Meanwhile, things got real hot, in some places, quite literally. Yashima, tired of chasing after a much swifter opponent, smashed her hammer into the ground, causing the whole crater to shake as if under effect of a high rating earthquake. This threw Toyotama to the ground and without a gear from Oriha and several arrows from Uzume, I think Yashima would've squished her. This tremor also changed the battle field dramatically. Shi managed to use it to her advantage and drove her wristblade hilt deep into Homura's gut. The victory was Pyrrhic though, as Homura practically exploded, unleashing a torrent of vivid orange flames around himself, almost setting himself on fire in the process. So now, the Fire Sekirei barely stood, his hands clutching the wide wound left by Shi's blade. Shi on the other hand hurriedly discarded her burning clothes, leaving the horrifically burnt Sekirei in only her panties as she rasped heavily in agony, her lungs clearly scorched by her short duration in a fiery hell. The girl was hunched over, her long black hair almost entirely gone and her eyes survived only by a miracle. Neither Sekirei was in any condition to fight at all and I began to wonder, despite myself, how-.

Suddenly, both Minato and Higa cried out, pure suffering in their voices as Higa had to lean heavily on Oshino while Minato practically buried Yukari who tried to keep up his thrashing yet limp form. I hurriedly searched the battlefield to see what caused this and found the causes quite fast actually. Soaking wet Kaiha grinned victoriously as she wrenched her blades out of Tsukiumi's chest, the Water Sekirei clearly didn't recover in time from the quake to stop the berserker.

I… I felt an odd…tightness, in my chest, at the shock, frozen on Tsukiumi's features. The blonde Water Sekirei may not have been anyone particularly close to me, hell, the stupid woman was opposing me from the first time she saw me…But, it just felt so wrong. I turned away, unable to keep looking at neither the fallen Sekirei, not her agonizing Ashikabi who wept as he called her name.

Alas, my eyes instead landed on the reason for Higa's suffering. On the other side of this crater, Sai laid 4 pieces. Mai cleaved her in half at the waist, taking both of her arms as she tried to block the hit for good measure. A foreseeable defeat, no doubt Mai simply consumed the impulse from the shuddering ground and charged her opponent who was momentarily stunned.

Still…foreseeable or not, just seeing the dead defiance on Sai's face, her hands still clutching her ruined wired knives… It made me feel as if I …failed. Not just her, but… failed my goal in general. I knew that if I succeed, this will all be undone but… Is this what Chiho meant when she said that it didn't really matter if I unwound time? That no matter what, I'll remember this… I'll remember failing Sai and all the others.

Hmm, it would seem that Yashima grew quite powerful to stun everyone but Ichiya and Musubi who didn't even seem to notice the ground trying to run away as they fought on, I thought offhandedly, the rest of my thoughts racing, a far cry from the weak crybaby I met months ago. The other part of me was lead with fear. Mai is an opponent beyond practically everyone here. Kaiha, the only free Sekirei we have, stands no chance against the Sekirei who is, for all intents and purposes, invulnerable to physical attacks. Even Sai had absolutely no chance against her from the start, the fallen Sekirei's goal was to lock her down until someone like Kara freed up.

Considering the only ones who could fight Mai and hope to win would be Kara with her Corruption, Toyotama with her Siphon and me with my Gates, there isn't much of a choice… Perhaps Higa had a couple more Sekirei who could fight her, but the man is currently trying to piece himself together after having to suffer through the backlash of having his bond destroyed so asking him anything right now is rather pointless. Kara is currently locked down in a fight with Sanada's team so vicious that I am afraid of even calling out to her for the fear of getting her killed due to loss of concentration. On the other hand, sending Kaiha against Yashima to free up Toyotama is only slightly less suicidal than getting her to fight Mai. The Gravity Sekirei would turn the Berserk Sekirei into a bloody stain spread throughout the entire crater and move on.

I glanced at Oshino and clenched my teeth hard before sighing.

"Oshino." The aforementioned Sekirei turned her head to me in silent question. "Watch over Chiho. If I don't stop Mai, we are all dead."

"I'll keep them safe." Oshino nodded and knelt to kiss her lethargic Ashikabi, obviously preparing her Norito just in case, as 12 Phantasmal wings opened up behind her. "Go."

"Kaiha!" I called out as I charged Mai. "Assist Karasuba!"

The Berserker grinned and sprinted towards the 4 Sekirei who still danced their deadly blade storm, seemingly unaffected by the quake. Mai on the other hand, halted her advance to help Yashima and turned my way, her face concentrated as she eyed my glowing blades. The last thing I noticed before I reached my target was that Uzume seemed to have dropped everything and was sending lance after lance at Kazehana, forcing the Wind Sekirei to stay on defensive, preventing her from attacking Oshino.

Mai… Mai was incredible. My opponent's fighting provness increased so much since the last time I fought her that my only saving grace were my Gates. In only half a minute I had to use it more then a dozen times on myself to prevent the gigantic piece of sharpened metal that looked like it weighted a literal ton from annihilating me. I also realized that Sai was a goddamn hero for holding out against this… this insanity for as long as she did! Mai used her abilities as regularly as she breathed, adding and removing momentum to and from herself and her blade. She honestly looked like a puppet master, controlling her own body and blade like a puppet.

My sword about to impale her as she charges me? No problem, she just reverses the polarity on that charge and bam, she's actually rushing away from me. The amount of times she pulled or pushed herself or her blade out of the trajectory of my Gates is innumerable. I literally couldn't touch her. The moment I came too close, she'd move herself out of danger. The only cut she suffered is a superficial cut on her arm as she came too close to a closing Gate in the very beginning. Ever since then, she kept special attention to the swiftly fading cuts in the fabric of the world that appeared after each Gate, careful not to get injured by them.

A tie. A glorified tie, that's what it was. Neither Mai nor I were fast enough to catch our opponent before they flee to safety. We'd have to fight to exhaustion, until one of us starts making mistakes severe enough to get themselves killed.

Suddenly, Mai broke off, flying up about 50 or so meters before turning so that she was lying on the air behind her blade which was pointing, as gravity dictates, down. A meteor attack? That's right, I realized as I tensed in preparation to sprint to where she lands, but where? My eyes widened as I turned to look at my Ashikabi who was currently soothing the almost recovered Higa, Oshino standing beside them.

"METEOR!" I sprinted right before I heard those words but I could tell I'll be too late. Mai's ability accelerated her to the speed of a bullet train within moments and she continued to gain more speed rapidly. She broke the sound barrier practically instantly hurling towards her target at an insane speed.


	79. Gate:Loss

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"Phantasmal Aegis." Oshino calmly called out, a 7 petal, 7 layered barrier materializing out of nowhere instantly, it's prismatic colors gleaming for an instant before Mai smashed into it with the strength of…well, a meteor. A low, ringing sound and an incredible shockwave first forced me to my knees and then literally blew me away, throwing me heavily into some jutting out rocks. A loud, ear-splitting noise of glass shattering rang out once, twice, thrice, 4 times… and then I saw Mai fly off, landing at the opposing edge of the crater. I could easily see that the attack took a lot out of her, as Mai practically used her huge blade as a crutch to stand right now, her face ashen.<p>

I stood up, wincing from the massive bruise I felt forming on my back, my first priority was Chiho. I know Oshino protected her, I can feel it through our bond, but I just had to see for myself.

I found her standing, safe and sound if a little shocked, behind Oshino's barrier that she willed into existence. Albeit 4 petals laid in ruin much like shattered glass, evaporating into nothingness before my very eyes, the barrier still stood firm for a moment before the black haired girl casually dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

I glanced around, finding it interesting that I was one of the few who actually got up after Mai's shockwave. Apparently, during my fight with Mai, quite a few things happened. Musubi and Ichiya were still fighting even, but both were exhausted to such a point that the when the shockwave threw them to the ground, both just laid, side by side, resting as they couldn't summon the strength to move. Toyotama got up, carefully cradling her left arm, the sight of multiple open broken bones jutting out of it making me cringe. Nearby, Yashima shook her head as she tried to get up. However, judging by her extremely uncoordinated movements and the fact that she couldn't even lift her head all the way, made me guess that she must've hit her head really hard on the rocks when the shockwave hit. Both Homura and Shi seemed to call the fight and now the horribly burnt Sekirei sat facing her Ashikabi who began to carefully apply first aid to his nearly dead bird. Higa didn't even turn to look at what was going on behind him, so focused he was on making sure the girl before him lived.

Homura on the other hand… I watched, sadness in my eyes, as Yukari, covered in the blood of her Sekirei tried to do something to the young man whose head laid on her knees. Shi's white hot blade didn't so much as cut the man as it did tear him when the attacker dashed away from his counter. I mean, Shi's blades are about 10 centimeters wide and receiving a hit like that to the gut and then feel it begin to cook your insides… Truthfully, I was surprised that the Fire Sekirei still lived with half of his gut torn apart and the other half seared. I could see his time drain away with each new drop of blood adding to the sizable pool already on the rocks he laid upon.

"Homura! NOO!" I turned away from the gut wrenching cry of pain coming from the small Sahashi. "Please! Don't close your eyes! HOMURA!"

"Homura…" I mumbled, my vision fogging up even as I blinked furiously. The Fire Sekirei and I may have started on the wrong foot, what with him hating MBI and believing me to be its attack dog. But as time went on and as he and I patrolled the city and saved our bumbling, moronic kin… The Fire Sekirei began to warm up to the Reaper. Of course, Takami constantly dragging both of us to group drinks and talks and the fact that we both were working to stop the Sekirei Plan helped tremendously.

There was a reason why I immediately though of Homura and no one else when I was hunting down Himura, that fucker that got so many of my kind killed. Sure, I wanted the bastard burnt alive, but that was merely details! I would've been just as satisfied to see him drowned, slowly crushed, cut to tiny pieces, dissolved alive and so on. Homura… I… I think you were my friend. I swear, right here, right now, as I watch your Ashikabi week her eyes out over your cooling body… I swear I will prevent this from happening. When I go back, you and Yukari will live long, happy lives, free of conflict. I swear this.

"You!" I turned back to Yukari, startled, to find the girl slowly get up with a demonic, pitch black aura radiating from her petite form. "You killed my Homura!"

"Unforgivable." I tensed as Yukari's aura suddenly turned into void black fire, her features obscured by the roaring flames. Everyone scurried aside, eyes wide, as Yukari stepped towards Higa unsteadily. The older man simply ignored her, so busy was he with tending to Shi. He didn't even so much as twitch when Yukari howled, unnerving more then a few Sekirei present as we could hear nothing human in that sound.

"Sister! Stop!" Minato and Shiina tried to reach out to stop Yukari from crossing the ethereal border of Kazehana's wind barrier but both cried out in pain as the fire blackened their hands practically instantly, forcing them to withdraw.

"Minato!" Kazehana turned to her Ashikabi with the rest of Minato's Sekirei, unmindful of the demon dashing over the border. I clenched my teeth as I raced to position myself between Oshino and Yukari, ready to stop the possessed girl charging us with another inhuman howl tearing the air apart. I hated the fact that I must fight Homura's Ashikabi but… I reached this far. I cannot back down. I-

"Watch out!" Minato cried out, his blackened fingers forgotten as he tried to warn what used to be his younger sister. So much worry and fear was in his voice that the creature paused momentarily and began to turn back to look at Minato. Well, it tried, because the very next moment multiple rapidly spinning gears hit her at incredible speed. Time slowed down momentarily as I focused on the thing that used to be Yukari. First 5 of the thin gears spinning with the likeness of a buzz saw were consumed by the black flames entirely. Two more were deflected, turning to ash moments later. The final 4 through penetrated the thinned flames and lasted just long enough to hack into the girl.

"Wh-wha-?" The fire suddenly disappeared and we could all see Yukari return to normal, staring at 4 ruined and blackened gears lodged in her body with a confused expression. 1 in her right shoulder, 1 through her right wrist, 1 in her left thigh and the final one directly in the center of her chest.

"I..." She turned to Minato, her facial expression lost and bewildered. "Bro…ther?"

"Yukari…" Minato's eyes widened and he sprinted with Shiina towards his sister only to be intercepted by Matsu who let Shiina pass by her without any problems but an instant prior. "Yukari! Matsu, let me go!"

"You can't leave the barrier, Minato." The former lieutenant of the First Disciplinary Squad told her Ashikabi coldly, making the young man flinch as if struck. "You'll die too."

"But-" Minato tried to argue only to shut up as Yukari took a shaky step towards him.

"Bro…" The girl collapsed on her knees as her legs gave out, blood quickly pooling out of her wounds and mouth. "Ther…"

"My Ashikabi…" Shiina knelt before her, a strange, melancholic sadness on his face. "My beautiful lady Yukari…"

"Shii…na?" Yukari squinted at the kneeling boy before her, as if she couldn't see him clearly. "Why… Dark… So… So…Cold… W-why…"

"Shh…" The Sekirei of Death hugged his dying Ashikabi, gently clutching her body to his not caring about his blackened fingers at all. "I am here…with you. For ever…and ever."

"Shii…na…" Yukari relaxed in his grasp and sighed. "Warm…"

"Yukari." Shiina smiled, a brilliant happy smile and then… Suddenly, I realized that he was dead. Just like that, holding the dead body of his Master, smiling happily, his chin resting on top of Yukari's black haired head.

"Yu…Yukari…" Minato whimpered, his voice breaking, tears pouring down his cheeks. "P-Please… get up! Sister! GET UP!"

Matsu held her Ashikabi as the young man sobbed into her chest, her eyes dimmed with pain. Unlike us of the Disciplinary Squad who could feel all of Chiho's feelings, Minato's Sekirei could only feel his emotional pain from what Akitsu mentioned.

Strangely, when Kusano took a step towards Minato, Matsu reacted instantly, her rapidly cleared eyes staring heavily at the girl, causing her to swallow hard and take a couple steps back. What was that about? Why did Matsu prevent the Sekirei of Life from consoling her grieving Ashikabi? Was there perhaps-.

"Fucking hell, I am sick of this!" I watched in shock as Kazehana suddenly dropped her hands, grabbed Minato and kissed him passionately, surprising the man even through his grief.

"Winds of my Pledge," A gigantic vortex of wind whirled around the Wind Sekirei, deflecting the few arrows and gears our ranged team sent in. "Blow away the dark clouds that befall my Ashikabi!"

"Oriha! Get out of there!" Higa yelled into his Bluetooth piece as the winds calmed down to reveal Kazehana stand there with a gigantic spear of wind in her hand. It was as if she held the fury of a hurricane compressed into the form of a thing throwing spear in her right hand. As she pulled back her hand for the throw, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach about just who her target is…

"Gungnir."

I turned to watch the see through spear cross the distance between Kazehana and the metal gear platform with such a speed that even to me it seemed like it teleported. It hit one of the giant gears acting as defence and tore it apart as if the meter thick metal gear was paper. But that wasn't all Kazehana's Norito did. The spear then unraveled into the hurricane it was made from with explosive force, literally tearing the platform and everything around it to shreds.

"Uzume…" Chiho breathed out, taking a step forward unconsciously. I don't know how I got there so fast, but the next moment I was by my Ashikabi's side, preventing her from leaving the reach of Oshino's defences, whatever they were.

"Chiho-" I started only to be interrupted by Minato screaming once more. Even as I turned, I somehow knew that Minato was on the brink. That last scream was more of a tortured animal than a human.

"Why…WHY!?" The young man screamed to the heavens, standing on his knees before his Sekirei. I blinked in shock, realizing that he was kneeling before Kazehana, who hanged impaled through her chest. So powerful was the impact of the white, silk lance-arrow that the stone beneath the Sekirei cracked into a spider web of cracks around the impact. Judging by the tired surprise frozen on Number 3's face, the Wind Sekirei saw her impending doom but could do nothing about it, exhausted from using her Norito. The silk projectile nailed her to the ground, clipping her heart and killing the woman nearly instantly, causing her to slump on the lance that held her up.

For a moment, we all stilled, unable to realize what just happened. One moment, she annihilated Oriha's platform from which the gothic dressed girl and Uzume shot their projectiles. The next, she hanged limp, dead on impact from an arrow none of us saw. How… How did she die? Kazehana and I weren't particularly close, but she regularly dropped in on the drinking parties Takami dragged me and Homura in. More than once… hell, a lot more than even a dozen times, it was just her and me left at the end. Both of us were very difficult to topple through alcohol, so we merely sat and shared stories about the people we met, the places we've seen, the adventures we lived. Like Homura, she… I guess I could call her a friend.

And yet, here I stood, before the bodies of 2 people I knew and liked, both of them dead not even 10 minutes since…

"Toyotama." I blinked as Higa dashed past me and carefully hugged a rugged Toyotama, making sure not to touch her shattered arm. The green haired woman slumped into his hold, a happy smile of her face and her Ashikabi's name on her lips. Huh… judging by the odd feeling I am receiving from a concentrated, frowning Chiho and the fact that Higa looks fine… does it mean that those onboard Oriha's gear survived somehow? But how? I saw the remnants of the metal gears tumble out the sky like shattered grass fragments. How did Kazehana's Norito, an attack she died to fire, not kill anyone? Gungnir, the spear she fired, was something not even Kara can take head on I am willing to bet. I also saw Oshino hug herself in fear when she saw the results of that attack. Something makes me guess that her Phantasmal Aegis would've lost to that attack.

Wait…if Toyotama is here… Then does that mean that-?

I looked beyond, over to the other side, and sighed in relief. Yashima, weathered and still quite uncoordinated, draped herself over Minato and looked quite ready to pass out at the drop of a hat. The Ashikabi in question seemed to use her as an anchor for his sanity, using his Sekirei to drag himself out of the endless abyss of pain and despair he tethered on the edge of. In reality, he focused on Yashima, literally blocking out the world, drowning out the emotional damage he suffered over the past minutes.

Beside him, Matsu stood, her heavy gaze surveying the carnage before her, as she held Kusano by the hand, preventing the child from so much as taking a step away from the Electronic Sekirei. Up the steep slope, Musubi slowly climbed up, calling it a tie with Ichiya who was also crawling up to her Ashikabi. I watched Sanada approach his ally, opening his mouth to say something stupid yet inspiring no doubt. I'll admit that I watched the recording of the 1st round of the 3rd Stage multiple times and yet the man's reasoning escapes me. Duking it out with the other Ashikabi for frankly absurd reasons while ordering their Sekirei to stay put… Really, a weird man this one…

"Argh!" My eyebrows threatened to escape into my spiked blue hair as I watched the aforementioned man dressed like a cross between a male stripper and a biker collapse, tears streaming down his face. Kara! I hurriedly turned to the far corner of the crater, making sure the oddly still Chiho is behind my back.

Kara stood, clearly winding down from a hard, long fight. Her face turned skyward, eyes closed, as she slowly breathed in and out with her full chest. He blade hanged, almost limply, from her right hand, dribble of blood connecting the crimson soaked blade and the slowly widening pool of the liquid on the dead rocks. Her haori was in tatters, hell most of her clothes were shredded, the dark colors soaked with blood from countless scratches littering her body. The fight clearly was not easy one as our Captain's left arm hanged limp and she stood ensuring in such a way as to ensure minimal pressure on her left leg.

Despite her condition, Kara was infinitely better than the 2 bodies lying before her, blood slowly spreading beneath them. One of them was lacking both limbs and nearly cut in 2 horizontally at the stomach while the other one was missing a leg and her head laid a couple meters away from its owner. And that's not counting the ruined clothes and myriad of minor wounds and slashes Kara's opponents sported.

"Kaiha…" Higa called out hesitantly to the last figure standing there. The girl in question turned to us, making most of us gasp in horror while Higa cursed viciously. The madly grinning berserker was covered in blood head to toe, her armour and clothes completely gone, revealing the muscular yet slim body they were meant to protect. Said garments were strewn all around, torn and shattered, portraying the story of a brutal fight. But it wasn't what caught our attention. The Berserk Sekirei literally had no spot unharmed on her body. A blood filled hole where her right eye used to be, the wound going all the way down, opening her cheek to reveal red tinted teeth. She was missing her left arm, hacked off just below the shoulder, the limb still clutching the wicked blade as it laid on the ground. Her other hand was empty and hanged limp, the sword it once wielded currently lodged down her opponent's throat, almost splitting her opponent in half. Countless slashes and cuts littered her body, one major one going across her chest, practically opening her chest up as we could see the white of her ribs peek from behind her mangled breasts. I…am pretty sure that's a lethal wound as far as wounds go. Yet, despite all of this, she still stood…

"I won, my Ashikabi!" Chiho turned green and turned around to vomit as the Berserk Sekirei took a step forward, nearly stumbling over the broken scythe blade that was lodged deep in her right thigh, the wound on her stomach opening up a bit to show her guts teeter dangerously, about to tumble out. "A-Are you pleased with me? D-Did I…do well?"

"Kaiha…" Higa suddenly dashed forward, sprinting towards his Sekirei that lumbered forth like a zombie. Toyotama cursed as she sprinted after him while Oshino paused just long enough to ensure that I was ready and able to help Chiho before she too took off, a phantasmal blade coming to existence in her hand.

"Mas… Mas~ter…" Kaiha tripped on the scythe blade again and this time couldn't keep her balance.

"Shh, it's all right." Higa caught her before she could hit the ground and carefully embraced her destroyed body. "I am here now."

"So…warm…" The berserker's grin began to fade and her only intact ruby eye began to close. "Mas…ter…"

Higa said nothing even as he slowly turned around, cradling the body of his Sekirei, not caring the least that her blood got all over him. Toyotama and Oshino carefully escorted their Ashikabi as he carried the body of his faithful Sekirei back to us where I stood, watching over Shi, Ichiya and Chiho. I…I felt terrible as I watched the man cry silently, his tears making clear tracks on Kaiha's bloody body.


	80. Gate:Phantasm

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"Kara…" I finally turned away from sight that wrenched at my heart and instead turned to my Captain who still stood still, almost as if meditating. I frowned when all I saw in those pale brown eyes that opened up to look at me was tiredness. Not a single hint of victory or joy of fighting a strong opponent. Just…tiredness. As she slowly, almost carefully, walked to us, stepping over bodies and pools of blood, it suddenly came to me that… there was no more fighting. Even Beni and the last trio of Sanada's Sekirei finally stopped trading rocks and approached to stand beside their appropriate Ashikabi. Chiho smiled palely to the worried Red Mist and leaned into her supportive embrace contently.<p>

I was about to greet Kara, even as Higa slowly walked past me with Toyotama and Oshino circling him, when I noticed her staring at something behind me, a spark of interest in her eyes.

"Sup everyone," I heard a tired and pained, yet very familiar voice sound out only a small distance behind us. "Sorry we are late."

"Uzu-!..me?" Chiho turned with a smile only for it to fade as we both looked at our Silk Sekirei. Said Sekirei stood beside Oriha and smiled an odd, strained and pain filled smile. I blinked as I took in her. Both she and Oriha were practically naked, only Uzume's red stained silks covered the bloodless white skin of the duo that slowly lumbered over our way. About a dozen small disks, 4 medium sized ones and only 1 large disk, broken and full of holes, orbited around them, ready to defend against anything.

"Uzume?" Beni asked softly, her eyes snagging on a very important part of our Silk Sekirei. A part that-.

"Yo. I am back." Uzume tried to laugh but coughed dryly instead. "N-Not in 1 piece maybe, but…"

Four great strands carried out White Archer forward, moving her where her legs no longer couldn't. Uzume's right leg ended in a dark red coloured bandages above her ankle while her left was missing from right below her thigh. Beside her, Oriha frowned and glanced away from where her right arm used to be, now gone completely right up to her shoulder. Considering her entire right side was covered in stained bandages and her right eye was bandaged over…

I wondered how they survived Kazehana's Gungnir? Well, now I got my answer. Sheer luck it seems. And…not all of them got out…

"Oriha..." Higa looked up from his kneeling position, Kaiha's body still in his arms. "Where are-?"

"We are here, Lord Higa." We all looked up to see Kujou and 3 more Sekirei around her, all of them sitting on the cliffs above. "We will enter the battle should the time come."

Suddenly, the field changed. Now our opponents only had 8 Sekirei remaining who could fight.

We had 6 and 4 more in reserve. True, the Sekirei in reserve that sat on the cliffs over watching the crater were injured and even now I could see Uzume's silk bandages on most of their bodies, but considering the situation…

On their side, they have Musubi, Matsu, Kusano, Yashima, Mai and the 3 Sekirei belonging to Sanada that I knew nothing about. Yet, out of those 8, Matsu and Kusano are little bit more than 0 in direct combat. Yashima, Mai and Musubi are all fatigued and, with the exception of Mai, injured. This basically leaves them only with the idiot trio that belong to Sanada as their only force.

Granted, we aren't that much better. Oriha is missing an arm and possibly an eye. Shi is still balancing on the edge of death, Homura's flames causing so much damage to her that I was astonished she didn't die yet. Toyotama is exhausted and injured, her staff and arm broken. Ichiya is just as wounded and exhausted as Musubi. Uzume is missing both of her legs and Kara…well, she could fight and probably kick ass, but I'd rather charge in first than let my injured lover fight in her state. I doubt Kujou and the other 3 Sekirei that came with her would be much help, not with their blood stained bandages and pale, bloodless faces that I could see all the way from here.

Yet, despite everything, we still held the advantage. My armour may have gained some minor damage from my bout with Mai but aside from that I am in perfect shape to fight. With me, Oshino stood at the ready and Beni who just arrived may look tired but she was in far better shape than practically everyone else present. Finally, we have Haihane slowly soaring overhead, ready to spring an ambush if need be at a moment's notice.

"Surrender." Chiho offered, even as I watched Higa carefully lay down Kaiha on the ground and stand up to be beside our Ashikabi. "You cannot win. Surrender and let's stop this pointless fight!"

"Pointless?" Matsu smirked, something in her cold expression making me tense up, my grasp tightening over my blades. "Maybe, but-"

"Hey! We can still fight!" One of Sanada's trio, a dark skinned, green eyed Sekirei shouted, interrupting Matsu.

"Yea!" The second one, a small child-like Sekirei in a sweater several sizes too large joined in.

"We can so kick your ass!" The last one, a dark skinned beauty with blond hair and blue eyes decreed. "Watch this!"

"Wai-" Sanada tried to get up from his knees but failed to do in time as the trio mobbed him and quickly kissed him in succession, displaying 4 wings of strange metallic colors each. What are they doing? They'll fry their Ashikabi's brain if they fire off their Norito's at the same time! Not wasting any time, the stupid trio dashed away a couple dozen meters and then stopped in a semi-circle facing us.

"By our Ashakabi's Will!" They chorused and I watched with an odd anticipation as Sanada clutched his head.

"The body is Formed." A pulse of golden energy hit the earth from the small kid Sekirei as she hit the ground with the sleeves of her sweater.

"The body is Animated." The green eyed girl slammed her heels into the ground, a pulse of white electricity flowing into it.

"The body is Moved." The blue eyed, blonde dark-skinned bombshell hit the ground with both of her fists, a pulse of purple energy traveling from her head through her arms and into the ground. Sanada began to cry tears of blood, red liquid pouring out of his nose and eyes and he clutched his head.

"The Will of our Ashikabi calls!" The trio chorused once more. "Rise and obliterate his foes, LEVIATHAN!"

Their part done, the trio dashed over to their strangely alive Ashikabi and began to fuss over him.

"How is he still alive?" Chiho asked, wonder in her voice.

"Ashikabi of Power…" Kara laughed and then suddenly stopped, growing serious. "Oh, fuck."

I made to turn to my Captain in surprise when I felt it too. A tremor, faint, echoed through the ground. Suddenly, another one, stronger, and then…

"Woah!" I caught Chiho before she could fall, the rocky ground beneath our feet suddenly moving.

"What's going on?' Oriha frowned, getting up the large gear that she managed to repair to semi-decent state while I wasn't looking. Higa just finished setting Shi onto it and looked like he was thinking of climbing aboard too when the tremor decided everything for him, throwing him aboard.

"Holy shit…" I breathed out as the whole island began to shake as if in the hands of an impatient child. The ground where the trio did their strange ritual cracked and then opened up into a chasm that ran through most of the island just barely not reaching the water on either side. And from that chasm…

"You have got to be shitting me." Beni gulped as a gigantic appendage, easily the size of a 3 floor house, reached out from the depths and clutched at the brim of the chasm. The thing was made of molten lava, quickly cooling to give a stable shape to the monstrosity summoned from the molten depths of this world...a claw? A couple seconds later, the ground shook as another claw reached out to grab the other side of the chasm and a fountain of lava burst out into the sky to form a gigantic tail.

"Phantasmal Aegis!" Oshino called out, bringing forth the 7 petal barrier as molten lava began to fly everywhere. And then…

It was like standing next to a volcanic eruption. The rest of this beast rose up in a single splash, spraying lava all over the island as it unfurled its long wings and roared, sounding a lot like the howl of a gigantic bonfire than anything else.

"This is a joke, right?' Uzume gulped even as a couple petals broke, shielding us from harm. "This is a hallucination, right? It Can't be real!"

"Fuck…" Higa breathed out, staring up at the gigantic monster that could rival the tallest skyscrapers I knew in size as it bared it's teeth at us in a rather toothy sneer. I could see fire and lava that made the creature peak out from its throat. With a feeling of dread, I realized that it's about to attack and there was literally nothing I could do to it. My Gates are useless against opponents of that size, I'd literally have to hack away for hours to get anywhere. I felt…small, in the face of this…Leviathan. And I don't mean just in terms of size, no…

"Oshino?" Oriha's surprised voice drew our attention even as the aforementioned Sekirei stepped out of the group, standing between us and the gigantic dragon.

"By my Ashikabi's Will," Oshino stated, glowing with a pale, colourless light. "My Ashikabi's Nightmares will be dispelled!"

Before anyone could so much as twitch, a wave of pale, colourless flame exploded from Oshino and… converted the world. It was sort of like my Gate:Swap but instead of swapping us to another realm, it seemed to completely overwrite a section of the world with an alternative reality.

"Endless Phantasmal Dreamscape." Oshino uttered even as we stared at the world we ended up in with awe. Even green grass as far as the eye can see, covered the gently rolling hills and plateaus. High up in the blue sky, a gigantic, 7 petal sun shone down gently. This world…it…it felt unreal. Everything about it was just… off. The colours, the vibrancy, the touch of the faint wind, the sounds made by rustling grass… I felt like I was in a dream. Everything wasn't real, it just couldn't be real and yet… Yet I couldn't wake. I knew, somehow, that I cannot wake, not so long as Oshino wills it.

We were all trapped in an unreal world where everything was Phantasmal…

My thoughts were interrupted when the gigantic dragon before us got tired of cosplaying a statue and spewed forth a torrent of fire and lava. I tensed, ready to pull us all into the Spirit Realm but stopped in amazement when a barrier rose out of nothing took the attack. 3, 5, 9, 13 petals broke, vanishing with the sound of broken glass, but dozens more still stood, safely weathering the attack. They all faded into nothingness when Oshino dismissed them and then looked at the dragon with a frown.

"Infinite Phantasmal Forge." She spoke and pointed at the behemoth rearing for another breath. "Fire."

I watched, mouth opened in awe, as tens, hundreds, thousands of weapons of every shape and type imaginable materialized, hanging in mid-air, and pointing at the Leviathan before us. Despite their variety though, they all shared a couple characteristics. Each one was see-through and colourless. Each one was a melee weapon, cold steel. Each one shot off at the dragon with a sonic boom, the compounded sound making most of us either twitch in discomfort or even try to cover their ears. An enraged roar made those that didn't cover their ears wish that they had as even Kara who stood beside me couldn't help but flinch at the sound. The weapons easily penetrated the rock hide of the behemoth and struck inside.

But… that's all they did. Fresh lava spewed forth and hardened into rock, restoring the dragon to pristine shape in seconds. All that Oshino's attack did was aggravate the behemoth, much like trying to kill a bear by poking it at with thousands of needles. The giant proved just how much it hated us by launching a whole series of attacks. The gigantic, spike filled tail lashed out and cost Oshino's barrier 4 petals before it withdrew only to be replaced by a claw slamming down, trying to crush us. Claws, tail and occasional fire breaths alternated at surprising speed, showing just how much Oshino pissed the juggernaut off.

Seconds passed and we knew that we can't allow this to keep up, Oshino began to sweat and breathe heavily as she continuously remade her petal barrier, unable to strike back as she defended us. Glancing back, I frowned. Oshino's ability only took us and our opponents to her world. This meant that Higa's backup and Haihane who still drifted in ambush above were both outside and unable to help. Not sure if they could have helped but it still meant that we had fewer options available. It was me, Kara, Uzume, Beni, Oshino, Oriha, Shi, Toyotama and Ichiya here. Out of this ridiculously powerful, in normal circumstances, group, Toyotama, Ichiya, Shi, Uzume, Oriha and Kara were injured. Toyotama couldn't fight due to crippling injury and loss of weapon. Shi looked like she'd die if she so much as breathed the wrong way. Out of those left, Ichiya, Uzume and I were completely useless against this dragon. Ichiya and I due to the sheer size of the beast while Uzume was critically vulnerable to fire. This literally meant that the only support Oshino really had was maybe Beni and Kara whose usefulness was limited by the whole lava for blood problem. Oshino could've helped had she not lost all of her large disks to Kazehana's Gungnir.

Forget frowning, we are royally fucked here! Unless Oshino pulls out some Game Breaking ability out of her ass, we are all dead!

"I…need…a second." Oshino grunted, whipping her head to get sweat out of her eyes. "Like…now…"

"Alright." Kara suddenly agreed with a smirk and snuck her arm around Chiho's waist, easily lifting the smaller girl up to her height with a single arm. Wait, was she-?

"By the Order of my Ashikabi," Kara let Chiho go, allowing me to take her back as she walked to stand beside Oshino.

"All who stand in the way of her sword," She lifted her sword up even as her black wings made of thousands of blades unfurled, making Higa and his Sekirei pale, and then swung down hard. "Die."

We all watched, our mouths open in sheer awe, as Kara's black blades literally threw the giant away. It only compounded when the blades exploded with the dragon still in mid-air, turning it from a flying cactus into a flying formless chunk of lava and rocks, spraying most of the beast all over the Dreamscape. By this point though, Kara half-laid in my arms as I moved to catch her the moment she finished her Norito. My Captain really was in no shape to pull off a Norito so it was of no surprise to me that she laid practically immobile in my grasp, unable to summon enough strength to so much as twitch. I couldn't help but to look at where the behemoth landed though, the impact was more than enough to rock the Oshino's world hard. Yet, the fact that our hill only shook mildly while the rest of this world looked like it was 'dancing' under electrical shock only increased the sense of unreality the world gave to us. I mean, a mountain just fell, and quite hard at that, and yet a part of this world just chose to ignore this more or less? Just how does Oshino's Dreamscape work?!

A growl interrupted my thoughts and I watched, with no small amount of dread, as the pile of rock and lava began to move, quickly reforming the dragon. Thankfully, even as I started wondering if it was immortal, my fears lessened. The reformed behemoth was distinctly smaller then prior to taking Kara's Norito point blank. It was still skyscraper size, but losing more than a third of its size made it seem much less the mountain it used to represent. Not that that really helped the situation. If Kara's Norito, the ability that threw that things like a soccer player going for the goal, only made it lose a bit more than a third of its total mass, we are screwed. I mean, who else did we have with a Norito capable of doing such massive damage to a moving target? The best option would of course be Beni's Norito, but again…this was a moving target, making her Norito useless.

This really only left Oriha, Uzume and Toyotama… well, no, it only really left Oriha. I dont really know how Toyotama's ability works so perhaps loss of her staff was critical while our White Archer would probably be able to do it but at the cost of her own life. I kind of hope that Oriha hasn't used her Norito lately…it's a vain hope I understand, due to the fact that she arrived without any gears and then suddenly she had so many that it would've taken the 8 MBI transport helicopters that got us here several trips to get them over here.

"Thank you, Lady Karasuba." Oshino finally recovered and bowed to the Black Sekirei still half lying in my arms. "Now it's my turn."

Oshino took a deep breath and raised her right arm to point at the nearly formed dragon.

"Justice is but an Illusion." She stated calmly, a beam of power erupting from her. "A non-existent Phantasm all strive for."

"Divine Phantasm!" Her voice somehow echoed through her world as it twitched and contorted parts of it warping, particularly the horizon and the sky just above the dragon. "JUSTICE!"

The world shuddered once more, bits of it suddenly blurring and then suddenly displacing themselves as Oshino's realm tried to follow it's creator's will. The Sekirei in question swayed and would've fallen had Ichiya not stabilized the smaller girl. It was clear to me, that whatever Oshino just used, not only required a lengthy activator, but also took so much strength from the Phantasmal Sekirei that even the world around us twitched and shuddered, ready to collapse at any moment. For her to lie nearly as exhausted as Kara in Ichiya's arms…

I winced as the dragon got up, fully restored and roared furiously our way. I could feel the heat all the way from here, minor like a candle but still. For it to- Holy Shit!

I nearly dropped Kara as I stood, staring at what just happened. 5 gigantic silver swords, each one a long, two handed bastard blade, just dropped from the heavens and impaled the behemoth through its limbs and tail. The blades towered over their roaring prisoner like pillars. And then, a second later, an incredibly large, golden executioner's blade drove the dragon into the ground, impaling it like a bug on a needle. But that wasn't the end of it. The moment the golden blade stilled, white chains, so bright that I couldn't look at them directly for the fear of blindness, appeared from the guards of the 5 silver blades. In a moment they snaked across the thrashing construct and wound around the central blade, locking the beast up in such a tight embrace that it couldn't so much as twitch.

"We…won?" Chiho asked, alternating her stunned stare between the chained prisoner and Oshino.


	81. Gate:Pyrrhic

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Reply: Yea...I did say that this whole act was...difficult.

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><p>"Oshino?" Higa stepped down from Oriha's disk and gently took the girl from Ichiya into his arms. "Are you okay?"<p>

"I'll be…fine." I couldn't see the girl from my angle, but her extremely tired, almost washed out voice didn't sound fine to me. "I…can't… the world will…end soon."

"Wait what of that…that sword thing?" Oriha asked with more then a hint of fear in her voice. "Will it fade too?"

"Yes, but…" Oshino's voice slowly strengthened but it was clear that she's done fighting for the nearest future. "The Divine…Phantasm will stay…for a few minutes."

"Alright." Oriha nodded resolutely and, after a glance our way, started to craft more disks, taking what she needed from Oshino's world. Speaking of Oshino's world, the sound of slowly cracking glass began to emanate from…well, everywhere. It was as if the very fabric of the world began to slowly crack and break. Within moments, cracks formed in the ground and sky through which black mist slowly leaked in, eroding the world on contact.

"Uh…" Ichiya carefully stepped away from one such rift and turned to Oshino. "Is…is this okay? We aren't going to get devoured by a random tentacle monster…right?"

A couple nervous laughs sounded out, but considering we all began to toss suspicious glances at these rifts and readied our weapons, I'd say the idea had a lot more than ephemeral merit to us. Who knows what can happen here, in the dream world after all…

"Cant…keep…" Oshino grunted before releasing a sigh. "Dream End."

Suddenly, with one great crack, and a fleeting moment of a kaleidoscope, we were back at the island, exactly as we left it. The same dome of mist through which pale red sun could barely shine through. The same crater we stood around with a bottomless hole in its center. The same lava filled chasm to the left from which the currently shackled dragon rose from.

Speaking of shackles, true to Oshino's statement, the Divine Phantasm didn't fade but we could see the eye blinding glow emitted by the chains begin to die down. It still hurt to look at, but at least I didn't feel like I was going blind anymore. And as I continued to watch…I could tell the Divine Phantasm of Justice won't last long in the real world. And then…and then we'll be left to deal with this behemoth construct that simply refuses to stay down. A beast that even now strained the chains around it, trying to get out. It's summoners headed towards it, no doubt to try and free their creation.

"Higa!"

"Lord Higa!"

I sent a quick glance to look at the approaching 'backup' who were ecstatic to have their Ashikabi back in this world before turning back to look at the Sekirei around me. Aside from myself, only Beni was now truly battle ready. Oshino and Kara were exhausted to the point that even sitting was a feat of great will while Oriha and Uzume looked far better here, on defence then to charge with me. Chiho was currently talking to Shi in low tones, the voices of my Ashikabi and the nearly dead Sekirei lost to the din. So it's just me and whoever is the least injured of the backup to charge and try to kill the summoners before their creation-.

A steel glint caught my eyes and I squinted as I watched a cold steel falling star quickly approach the trio of summoners heading for the dragon. Wait… Haihane? Is she attacking now?

Within a couple seconds the falling star turned into the Blue Sekirei who finally decided to join the fray, her wind manipulation accelerating her towards the unsuspecting Sanada's Sekirei that I still didn't know the names of.

"Watch out above!" Matsu suddenly turned from us and yelled to the trio who stopped and turned around in confusion. They turned…just in time for Haihane to literally drop on top of the dark haired Sekirei, the force of the impact and the destruction of the wind shell that the Blue Sekirei constructed around herself literally turning the girl into nothing more than red splatters strewn all over the surrounding area and the dead girl's teammates. Not wasting a moment, Haihane lashed out, her claws just barely skimming over the child Sekirei's head as the kid doubled over to puke. Her neighbour who stood frozen from shock faired much worse as the wind sheathed claw Haihane used to rip tanks to pieces ripped her in half, the pour Sekirei not getting a chance to defend herself at all.

"NO! STOP! I surr-!" Sanada screamed as he sprinted forward, clearly willing to do anything to save his last Sekirei. Haihane, hearing him, stopped and began to turn his way, her raised claw freezing in place before it come down on the kid's head to execute her.

Whether Sanada was really going to surrender or not, was lost in on unnerving howl of a terrified animal backed into a corner that the kid emitted, unbalancing the Blue Sekirei standing over her. Before Haihane could recover the kid…changed. The sweater too big for her and the bulky sweat pants she wore ripped, showing a scaled form several times too large for the clothes she wore not to mention the folded wings on her back. The girl that looked like a bipedal draconic thing, nimbly dodged the clumsy swing Haihane desperately threw and then speared the Blue Sekirei through the chest with her long, flexible and quite sharp tail.

"Haihane…" Chiho began to rise slowly, her eyes huge from shock as she watched the tail jut about half a meter out of Haihane's back. I swallowed heavily as I watched the scaly thing grin as it watched Haihane slowly slide down its tail. Yet it celebrated triumph too early. The tail, struck through her chest, gave Haihane the bit of stability she needed and, with a twist, the draconic Sekirei flew apart in a splatter of gore and limbs. Haihane fell to her knees, slumping as the wind around her blades died down. The dragon behemoth screeched as it's last creator died and suddenly froze, turning back into inanimate stone and lava that instantly began to crumble through the withered chains and blades that bound it.

"Haihane!' Chiho screamed, taking a step forward, forcing me to stand in her way, abandoning my lover for the moment. To our surprise, our teammate…no, our family member, gave a jerk and raised her head slowly to look at Chiho. I swallowed hard and suddenly found the corners of my vision start to blur as I watched Haihane smile brilliantly, blood dribbling down her chin, and wave her hand tiredly in a farewell gesture.

"NO! Haihane! HAIHANE!" Chiho yelled, struggling against my arm even as I knelt to embrace my Ashikabi from behind. "HAIHANE!"

"Stupid…student." Kara whispered beside me as she struggled to stay in a sitting position, a couple of tears slowly making their down her cheeks. "Where….are you going. Training…isn't finished yet."

"Sis…ter." Beni sniffled, crying quietly behind us as she looked at the fallen member of our family. Beside her, Uzume swallowed heavily and looked away, her eyes shining with tears.

I myself felt tears drip down my cheeks as I struggled to help my Ashikabi overcome the torrent of emotions and such overwhelming sadness that it came to the point of pain. The closer an Ashikabi is to their Sekirei, the harder the bond loss backlash hits. The only reason why Minato, Higa and Chiho didn't immediately die from shock from losing their Sekirei with such strong bonds is that the remaining Sekirei help weather the pain. We keep our Ashikabi alive by helping them get through the pain by acting like a filter. When Akitsu told me of this, I didn't truly understand what it implied, but right now, as I tried to deal with the overwhelming pain in my core, I understood just how truly dreadful the effect of having to deal with the backlash of such a strong bond breaking alone must be.

I glanced at Sanada to confirm my suspicion. The man laid in a contorted, broken pose, his eyes wide open and blank, not a hint of life in them. Sanada died instantly, before he even hit the ground, the moment his last Sekirei was ripped to pieces. The same would happen to Chiho, Minato and Higa should they lose all of their Sekirei too. Akitsu said before that an Ashikabi can lose up to 2 bonds safely for their body. Their mind would more than likely be torn to shreds with no chance of recovery due to pain, but physically they'd be fine. Any more though… the heart faulters, brain hemorrhages and the Ashikabi dies practically instantly.

"It is a little more than 15 minutes to deadline." I blinked and turned to see Matsu, still holding Kusano's hand firmly, come close to address us. The Lieutenant of the First Squad stood maybe 10 meters away, staring at us with cold, analytical eyes. I am not sure how she got so close, but considering that we are all injured, emotionally and physically, perhaps it's not such a difficult thing to do.

"Tell me," She ordered, her eyes occasionally darting between Higa and Chiho. "What are you going to use the Kouten for?"

"To make a wish, of course." Kara smirked as she sat tiredly, her serious half-lidded eyes made me tense though. Even as Matsu raised her hand to massage the bridge of her nose, a pained grimace on her face, I slowly got ready. I could tell that Kara tensed up in such a pose that she could make a single leap from her position to get Matsu. Considering her condition though…that leap is practically guaranteed to be the last one she would ever do. And so I slowly let go of Chiho took a step to stand slightly before her, positioning myself to stand in such a way to prevent Kara's possible suicide leap. Judging by the frustration she relaxed with, she knew I wouldn't let her.

"We have been though… so, so much, today. Too much." Matsu said softly, letting her hand drop as she stared at us with cold brown eyes that were surprisingly dull, unlike before. "My Ashikabi lost his beloved Sekirei and his sister. I. Want. This. Over. This Stupid Tournament must end."

"So just surrender already!" Oriha taunted, the wariness in her posture belying her tone. "You have no one but a few half dead leftovers left! We won!"

"Victory…" Matsu leered, the gesture giving her face a demonic look. "There are many kinds of victories…some of which aren't that much different from defeats. Do you know just who and what is currently anchored around this island?"

"The American Third Fleet if our Intel is not mistaken." I said slowly, not sure where she was going. Her words were rather worrisome and then there's also the fact that Kara gave a soft laugh and fell to lie on her back, seemingly unworried at Matsu's words…troublesome.

"You are mostly correct." Matsu's wicked smile was beginning to unnerve me. "They also brought a couple of stealth submarines with a very special cargo."

At this she paused, making sure we all got the hint. Judging by the amount of frowns traded, we all got it. Trust the Americans to bring the Nukes. Somehow, I doubt Matsu is lying; no…something else was going on here.

"Well played, First Lieutenant." Kara clapped lazily from the ground. "To think that you forced a tie…well done."

"Chiho." Kara forced herself up again on her elbows, looking at our Ashikabi who gathered herself enough to be back with us, even if tears still silently rolled down her cheeks. "Tell her."

"Why?" Higa asked evenly, not a drop of emotions on his face. At this point, I began to have suspicions. Suspicions that…If I am correct…

"Just how potent are your abilities, Matsu?" I asked carefully.

"Enough to keep the whole fleet under my control." Matsu once again winced but recovered her icy expression quickly. "All of it."

I clicked my tongue, unsure what I felt more of: amazement at the abilities of the First Lieutenant or the fact that she alone forced a standoff. It was just a bit under 15 minutes till portal opens and Matsu needs far less time to nuke the island, ensuring that no one wins. Insane, at first glance… but at the second… Matsu is like an all seeing eye, she saw just how our race can be used. As Sekirei 02, there's no way that she doesn't feel the pressure to guide our race. Not when 01 abandoned us. And it could be seen in her actions, the fact that she was the last one to leave the Disciplinary Squad – forced in fact – and the fact that she wanted to break the Sekirei Plan, that she wanted a better future for our race. She knows that Heaven's Feel cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of the unworthy. She knows our group. She knows that we want to better our race. This…this is the final test. 02 wants to know that we won't fuck everything up… Well, I am sure we got a surprise for her…

"Chiho." I stood aside, letting the small girl I hid behind my back access to Matsu.

"W-we…" Chiho hesitated, taking a deep breath as she glanced about the absolute devastation around us. "We want to…undo everything. We…we want a second chance."

"We want to go back to the time when Minaka found the Sekirei." Slowly, the volume of her voice and determination I could feel through our bond inside of her rose. "We want to prevent this…'game'. We want to guide the Sekirei race to a free future! A future without this pain!"

A still silence descended on us all as we all stood, Chiho's yell still ringing in our ears. While Matsu stood still, her eyes closed and face blank, I looked at the Ashikabi who stood behind her. I saw Minato's and Ichiro's expression change from surprise to wonder to resolution.

"Matsu." Minato approached Matsu grimly, surrounded by everyone else still alive on their side.

"I know, Mina-tan." I raised my eyebrows a bit at the sight of her gentle smile that she directed at her Ashikabi. "We lost."

"But." She turned back to us, her tone hard. "We are coming with you. I need to make sure you do it right."

"We…are? But they kill-" Minato nearly stumbled in surprise and then laughed nervously from a single side glance from Matsu. "Hehe…I guess we are."

"You should come too." I extended the invitation to Mai, seeing Chiho nod to Matsu with a tired smile. "We could use your help where we are headed."

"A…are you sure that's a good idea?" Ichiro glanced at Higa who glared at him.

"Indeed…" Higa said forcefully. "So much blood and pain is between some of us that-"

"It beats adding more to it." Chiho suddenly interrupted with a voice full of frozen steel, causing both men to look at her in vary surprise. "If Minato managed to set it aside and come with us, then so can you. I will not have anyone else d-die here today..."

She broke up to take a shuddering breath, as she slowly looked around at the carnage around us, her eyes snagging on Haihane's body for a few extra moments before she turned back to us.

"Too much blood and tears have been spilled tonight. We…we need to get along." She paused for a moment once more before continuing on, steel back in her voice. "For the future of our race. There's too few of us as is."

"…I agree." Ichiro sighed and suddenly stepped up to Higa, signaling Mai to stay behind. "Listen…I know a sorry won't cut it. But I want us to work together. In the memory of those who died here today."

"…" Higa stood still; staring at Ichiro's bent back as the younger man bowed to him. "Very well. For our future… I'll work with you."

"Well done. I think I have something as well that will cement this alliance." We all turned to Matsu who finally let Kusano go and even nudged her towards Minato. "Go ahead, little Ku. It's time."


	82. Gate:Victory

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: My most humble apologies, I somehow forgot to upload the act end as I was writing the next scenes. Sorry people!

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><p>"Huh?" Minato blinked dumbly, not understanding the situation. Granted, we all were kind of lost here; even our Captain looked on with undisguised interest.<p>

"Ku? Wha-Oww!" Tired of Minato not getting the hint, Kusano kicked him in the knee, making her Ashikabi double over in pain and then kissed him. We all looked on as 2 massive wings of gentle, pale green opened up behind her back, each one easily thrice the size of the small girl.

"By the Will of my Ashikabi, Life claims this place as its Domain." Kusano's soft voice rose to the heavens as we all quietly watched the tiny kid work her Norito. "Garden of Eden!"

"Woah." Most of us, myself included, gave exclamations of awe as we watched the green wave crawl outwards from Kusano, covering the previously lifeless rock with vibrant grass and thousands of flowers. But the most fascinating thing happened when the wave reached us. The wild growth shattered on contact into vivid green particles that floated into whoever was nearby. I felt invigorated and the massive bruise on my back disappeared like it never existed. Shi, who still hovered between life and death was restored to perfect health right before us. Hell, even her hair grew back to what it used to be! In fact, Kaiha, whose mutilated corpse still laid beside Higa looked pristine, all of the wounds cured, almost as if she is merely-.

"K-Kaiha…" Higa suddenly dropped to his knees and reached out with a madly wavering hand towards his Sekirei. "Kai~ha…"

"I am awake, I am awa…ke?" Kaiha opened her eyes and stared at us all and Higa, confusion in her eyes. "Master? Why are you crying?"

"I…I am just happy." Higa wiped away his tears and then grabbed his naked Sekirei into a tight embrace.

"Eh?" Kaiha looked absolutely stunned. "Wha-what's going on?"

"Welcome back." Oriha said absentmindedly, poking her recently restored arm with her other as if unable to believe that it's actually there. I turned to Uzume to find the Silk Sekirei jumping around in joy, happy to have her legs back. Wait…Wait, wait, wait! Does…did…no way. Kusano…she can? Wait, does that mean-?

Looking around, I could see everyone who died just minutes ago get up in wonder. Some were confused like Kaiha. Others were ecstatic to be alive again. I could see Minato cry buckets of tears with relief as he held his totally confused sister who awkwardly patted him on the back. The man only momentarily broke his embrace to hug the stuffing out of Kazehana and Tsukiumi, crying tears of happiness all the while. Sanada was also openly crying as he hugged and sporadically kissed his Sekirei. While the trio who summoned the dragon took it all in stride, the trio in dark clothes looked surprised and almost comically uncomfortable from such attention in the open.

In the distance, I could see a pair of Mikogami's Sekirei rise, surprising me for a second as I recognised them as the pair of twins who astonished me with their stupidity all those weeks ago. Although their clothes were totaled, I still recognised them by the whip one nervously clutched in her hands while the other one looked at us with frightened eyes, strings glistening in the sun on her hands. I slowly shook my head, showing that we meant them no harm. I mean, they lost, their Ashikabi fled, there was no reason to be any meaner to the poor twins.

Meanwhile, Chiho and Beni were rolling around in the flower filled grass with Haihane, pure happiness flowing from my Ashikabi into us from the bond. Even Kara couldn't help but to gently smile as she stood over the three, her sword sheathed and posture relaxed. I shook my head, the smile refusing to leave my lips. Ah screw it, I thought as I wiped a couple tears of joy. Let it stay.

"Thank you." I picked up Kusano and twirled around, carefully holding the girl who blinked tiredly.

"Spirit!" She giggled and then yawned. "Tired…sleep."

"Sleep well, Green Lady." I smiled gently as Kusano relaxed and fell asleep practically instantly. The little one deserved it, to think that she was capable of something like this… I caught Kara's eyes and we both nodded, reading each other's intentions clearly. Kusano… We can't leave you here, no matter the cost. The Sekirei of Life is far too important for our kind. Heh…Judging by the looks Higa as well as Sanada occasionally sent her way, Kusano is in danger of growing up as one hell of a spoiled brat. Not that much of a surprise, considering practically everyone here holds so much-.

"Surrender or we'll shoot!" And just like that, the magic of the moment broke as we all turned to a handful of Americans whom Kusano's Norito resurrected as well. They stood, pointing their guns at us, some waveringly, most hatefully.

"Hey, you should lower your weapons before you get hurt." Minato got up and took a step forward into the open, concern in his voice as he glanced at us. Apparently he was afraid that-.

"Minato!" Yukari slammed into her brother just as a shot rang out.

"Yukari!" I heard even as I finished my dash and my blade began to swing down, the man's eyes before me widening slowly as he saw his impending demise. I don't know what they were thinking, these 40 or so men when they attacked 31 Sekirei. Their lives lasted mere seconds as they died by the dozen. I paused for a few seconds, wondering if the Garden of Eden will resurrect them again, but it seems that since the kid I still hugged with my left arm to my chest is asleep, her Norito stopped functioning. Now that I think about it…charging in with Kusano clutched to my chest was a dumb move. Like…really stupid, what the hell was I thinking? I mean, she's safe with me, so long as she's in my arms nothing can possibly touch her but still…

"Wh-what…" I looked back to see Musubi stand, holding a piece of a soldier in each of her hands, clearly having ripped the marine in half. The blood soaked Sekirei looked ashen, the shocked expression on her face causing me to frown. Was this her first time actually killing someone? Tch, if she stands like this, out in the open-! I dropped the thought and charged in, my sword at the ready to protect her. It's going to be tough covering her and Kusano at the same time and I silently berated myself for getting into this situation in the first place.

Yet… it was in vain. The marines didn't last even 10 seconds, having been obliterated, literally, by the combined firepower of everyone involved. The elements themselves, as well as other things, ripped them to bits, scorched them to ash, crushed them into dust. But that was all irrelevant as I stood, watching stunned Musubi stand in shock, still as a rock pillar. Suddenly, she twitched and light began to emanate softly from her stomach and forehead, forming into the shape of a Sekirei crest with the number 8 inside.

"Murderer…" Musubi's lips twitched as her eyes began to slowly glow gold. "How could-"

"No…" She suddenly twitched again and dropped the pieces of the soldier staring at her blood covered hands. "No...no...no, no, no! No! Not a murderer! No!"

"I-I had to! This man- accident, yes, I d-didn't mean to-" The light emanating from her grew stronger. "You killed him. You. Are. A. Murde-!"

"NO!" Musubi began shaking and her hands clutched her head as she stared through me, not seeing me. "NOT a murderer! I- No! I had to! I...My...My Ashikabi-!"

"You are Lying." This split personality thing began to attract attention of everyone else, even Minato got up from his position by Yukari's side and looked at Musubi, clutching his heart. "You are scum! A murdering piece of-"

At this point, I began to have suspicions of just what was going on. But how could this have-.

"Shut up." A dark aura enveloped her hands and began to fight the glow around her head that almost finished forming a halo. "You...who are you!? What are you-"

"I gave my life for this?" Musubi suddenly spun around and laughed, a hollow sound that made everyone reach for their weapons. "This...this-!"

"Get. Out. Of. My. HEAD!" Musubi suddenly dropped to her knees and screeched, 6 gigantic wings unfolding from her back, 3 white and 3 black in an alternating pattern. "THIS IS ME!"

"Oh no you don't." Musubi's lips twisted into an unhinged smile. "You're not going anywhere, murderer."

"Musu-" Minato began to walk swiftly to his Sekirei but was interrupted by a blast of energy that pierced the sky. Two intertwining beams, one black as the void, the other of blinding light.

"I! Am...I am not!" Musubi began hotly but then her voice began to tire rapidly. "I...I…"

"You could've been great. The true Pillar to all the lost birds." Yume whispered using Musubi's lips. "Together, we would've lived with your Ashikabi. Together, we would've healed all of these poor birds. Together we could've-"

"MUSUBI!" Minato yelled, unable to come closer due to the energy emanating from his Sekirei. "MUSUBI! SNAP OUT OF IT! MUSUBI!"

"Mina-to?" Musubi swayed as she got up from her knees and turned to her Ashikabi. "Mi...na...to…"

"Musubi!" Minato tried to force his way close but a blast of golden energy threw him back, crashing him onto the unforgiving ground in a heap. "Garh!"

"Minato!" Musubi looked on, tears coming down her face. "My...Ashika...bi…"

"No." Yume stole control again, Musubi's features hardening, causing great dissonance to everyone watching as Musubi's tears still streamed down Yume's face. "No. You failed. I cannot leave this as is. I will set everything right. Step aside and-"

"Get! OUT!" Musubi's right hand suddenly enveloped in pure blackness and she slammed it into her chest, Gold and Black fighting for dominance.

"Stop!" Yume's voice sounded strained and panicked. "What...are you...doing! STOP!"

"Get...OUT!" Musubi's other hand also slammed into the center of her chest, slowly driving her right hand, now enveloped by black lightning, closer to her solar plexus. Wait...No! She couldn't be!

"Musubi!" I took a step forward only to stop, glancing at Kara's blade in my path as she shook her head and looked on. I clenched my teeth and accepted the situation. Whatever was going on, Kara felt that Musubi had to go through it herself. Not sure how, Yume is Number 8, doesn't even matter that she's currently a parasite in another body, for Musubi to fight her… She doesn't stand a….chance?

"OUUT!" Musubi roared and finally pierced through Yume's defences, her hands carving a hole in her own body, blood spurting everywhere. "Out…"

"What...have you…" Yume's voice weakened right before our eyes, both golden and black glows diminishing rapidly until but a second later, nothing remained but her wings. "Done…"

"MUSUBI!" Minato crawled over, his right leg a mess, but the young man didn't seem to care at all. "MUSUBI!"

"My...Ashika...bi…" Musubi smiled weakly as she fell to her knees and then clenched her hands that were still stuck inside her chest. "My...Ashi…"

"Stupid...imbecile." Yume forced Musubi's body to speak, even as we all watched her die. "How could you…tch."

We all stilled as we watched Musubi...or Yume? Or perhaps both of them. We watched as she laughed, blood dripping down her mouth and chest, forming a pool beneath her.

"Not...like this…" She said, raising her eyes at Minato. "No...not...like...this…"

"Musubi…" Minato whispered, shocked, as Musubi began to glow once more. This time, the golden and black glows didn't fight each other. They...merged. They merged into a prismatic mist that enveloped Musubi like a cocoon, hiding both Number 8 and Number 88 from our sight for a moment before it exploded, smashing us all onto the ground. I landed heavily as I twisted to ensure that Kusano was safe in my armoured embrace. As I got up, wincing from my new bruise, I found Musubi lying still on the rock ground, unmoving yet completely healed, not a single scratch on her.

"Mu...Musubi!" Minato, with the help of Yashima, got up and limped over to his Sekirei. "Musubi...she's...she's alive!"

"We need to go. Now." Matsu said sharply, drawing our attention. "Not only is there little time left, the ship also has doctors, good ones. They can fix this."

"Come here!" She ordered, turning to Mikogami's twins who hovered on the edge, unsure if they should come close or not. "You're coming with us, in a few minutes this island will kill everyone still on it!"

As I neared, I saw Uzume lean back, showing me that she just finished bandaging Yukari's side, her white silk already stained red.

"What about Ku-?" Minato, after watching Tsukiumi pick up Musubi, took one look at the sleeping child in my hands and gave me a small, tried yet grateful smile. "Thank you."

"Come on." Sanada grabbed the younger man by the shoulder and began steering him towards the rest of the group. "We got a lot of distance to cover to get your sister and your Sekirei to safety. Let's go!"

"Distance shouldn't be of any concern." Higa glanced at Kusano, a strange look in his eyes, and then turned to Oriha. "Oriha."

"Yes, my Ashikabi." The girl smiled and then called over all of her gears. Within moments, they fell apart into scraps of metal, leaving only their purple crystals behind, their cores. With another gesture, they flew apart, covering the area we all stood on, the single large one staying behind to hover before its creator. The next moment, they all slammed into the earth, digging in and disappearing in moments.

For a few seconds nothing happened aside from the look of intense concentration on Oriha's face and droplets of sweat that began to appear on her forehead. Whatever she was doing, it was rather difficult…

"Woah!" I seem to recall that I was impressed by the gears she summoned in the 3rd Stage? Well, apparently Oriha thought they weren't large enough. I watched in awe as the entire area we stood on slowly rose from the ground, having been converted into a giant gear with grass and flowers on its surface. Oriha raised it a couple meters into the air and then stopped, opening her eyes and drawing a deep breath.

"Oriha can get us out in time." Higa said, pride for the girl in the gothic dress sending said girl into a deep blush.

"Then…" Beni looked around before continuing. "This is it huh? The end of the Fourth Stage?"

"Yes. This is the end of the Fourth 'Stage'." Chiho said as she approached the other Ashikabi. "But this is not the true end. Once Avalon belongs to us, we Will come back for you. I swear this."

"No." Kara paused to grin at the surprise she caused. "You have Our word. Now, get to Shinto Teito. If this is a full scale invasion, Takami could really use your help right now."

"Good Luck, Karasuba." Matsu said seriously before turning to me. "I uploaded my contact number into your phone. And…you really should get an anti-virus or something on your inbuilt phone. Hacking it was ridiculously simple."

"Wha? When!?" To say I was surprised was to say nothing. How long had I been spied on?

"…Khmm. Just now, at the start of the Fourth Stage." The First Lieutenant sniggered at the look on my face. "Bye bye now!"

I shook my head in exasperation. Something tells me that she isn't entirely truthful… Whatever, I though as I carefully handed Kusano to Homura who looked strangely elated.

"Good luck, Rei." Homura smiled gently, the gesture making my heart shudder for some reason. "Stop this madness, once and for all. For all of us."

"D-Don't worry." I smiled as I stepped back. "We are the Disciplinary Squad. We cannot fail."

"No, we never could." Matsu smirked and waved. They all did really, even Mikogami's twins waved hesitantly, unsure if they really should wish us luck or not. As we got off and turned towards the ruins of Kamikura town, we knew that behind us, on the gear that rapidly accelerated towards the ocean, our kin's hopes and prayers went with us. They trusted us to win. They trusted us to end this bloody farce.

They trusted us… to End the Sekirei Plan, once and for all times. Now, the Future, and the Past.

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><p>Note: To those who read the manga this end shouldnt be all that surprising. I swear, I dont know what the OriginalsSekirei author thought when she gave Kusano Garden of Eden ability for a Norito... Most OP char is Kusano, I swear.<p>

Note: Alright, now I can writr the next chapters in peace.


	83. Gate:Avalon

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Sorry for the sudden hiatus. Life...then work...then more life...yea...

Note: So I noticed that a lot of Sekirei stories (the bigger ones) have also somewhat - lacked in the update department since December...strange. I mean, sure Sekirei ended (I am surprised that I could forsee the ending down to details a year in advance...) but that shouldnt put a dampener on the muses...right?

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><p>The final minutes were surprisingly quiet. We walked to the ruined square where the portal was supposed to open. The one empty ghost town was now full of smoke and ash forcing us all to cover our faces and move carefully. As we moved, I occasionally snuck glances at my lover that walked beside me. I was unconcerned about everyone else...really. I mean, Chiho is busy sticking as close as possible to Haihane afraid that the Blue Sekirei will attempt to leave us again. Haihane on the other hand was very happy by the possessive attention our Ashikabi showered her with and spent most of the route gleefully holding Chiho close. Her other hand was occupied by an uncharacteristically quiet Beni who held on, afraid that she might let go and watch Haihane fade away like a dream. Uzume on the other hand still marveled that her legs were back with her and kept pulling off random acrobatics, testing to see if they really were her legs. Kara on the other hand… I was...concerned, if not more. I mean, our Captain was grim? No, that's not it. There was certainly something weighing on her mind but she wasn't particularly grim. Just… I mean, it's her own thoughts but it makes me concerned. We just finished the greatest fight in the Sekirei Plan right? What could possibly trump the meat grinder we just had to go through?<p>

Yet, judging by her posture and expression, she was expecting something...more, later. But what could it be? Just what did she believe the Fifth Stage to be? I don't believe that she withheld information from us so whatever it is it really must be her own thoughts. So I chose to ignore it. Right now… right now I just want to stand here, the hand of my love is my hand, waiting. Just...waiting for the promised portal. I-I was a-afraid. Afraid that if I blink, I'll return back to that crater full of corpses and blood. That the miracle named Kusano was a lie. That-

I blinked and glanced down in wonder, seeing Kara squeeze my gauntlet clad hand in comfort. A moment more and I found myself in Kara's arms, looking on her wild gray hair in surprise as the Black Sekirei's head rested on my chest. I returned the hug, feeling Kara's warmth through the layer of steel I ward off the world with and just...relaxed. Relaxed, knowing that Karasuba, the Black Sekirei, my Love was here for me. Relaxed, feeling the bond that chained us together. Relaxed, feeling the support and love my Kara offered me. I swear, I could've spent an eternity like this I vager. Just...just standing there, Kara in my embrace. But…

I am not sure what I expected to hear or see when the portal opened but this was definitely not it. From what I know a portal is a hole that connects 2 different points of space. So wouldn't opening it involve ripping the fabric of the world somehow? I expected either a ripping sound or perhaps nothing at all, much like how Gate:Open is completely silent even as it slices through the boundary to open a Gate between the 2 realms.

I most certainly didn't expect reality to ripple in that spot, much like a water drop hitting a perfect still water surface. I most certainly didn't expect to be hit by the sound of cracking ice. It took the portal a few seconds to open with the sound of shattered ice, showing us a delirium infused sphere about a meter and a half in radius, warping the ground and air around it in a nausea inducing instability.

Kara and I both twisted to look at it, still holding each other in a tight embrace. I felt oddly… hesitant entering that unstable patch of reality and judging by Kara's reaction, so was she. For a few seconds everything was still as we watched the portal churn.

"Shall we?" We all turned to see Chiho take a slow step forward, pulling Haihane and Beni behind her. "Come on. Let's go onto the unknown! Let's finish this."

And with a weary smile she dashed forward disappearing in the anomaly, Haihane and Beni right behind her. With a startled cry, Uzume charged in after them leaving just me and Kara left.

"The Final Stage…" Kara murmured and then looked up at me with a smile, her pale brown eyes half lidded. "Rei?"

"To the end of the world and back." I smiled at the woman I held and gently parted away. "We will face it all together."

Kara grinned and after a brief kiss we both quickly crossed the distance, entering the Kaleidoscope…

Only to almost crash into the group on the other side. The sudden, instant transition jarred us, judging by how we both nearly fell over. Before we finished righting ourselves, the loud crack of ice behind us signalled the closing of the portal. At least I think it was related to the portal, I mean, the warping of the space around suddenly ended so that must be that right?

"Why'd you-..." I turned back to look at the quartet before us that we crashed into and then fell silent as I stared, mouth open, at what caught their attention.

We stood on a glass smooth, white octagonal platform surrounded by 8 dark red obelisks that stood at each edge. Despite the smoothness of whatever this platform is made of, it simply refused to lose traction to my greaves. The platform was actually the flat top of an 8 edged low pyramid that stood in a fairly large octagon of clear space. All around us, titanic monolith towers stretched into the sky. The fact that each one resembled a silver, twisted talon only gave the whole place an intensely alien feel, almost as if I stood on the back of a gigantic hedgehog. But that wasn't what made me stare in awe. Certainly, the alien structures were fascinating but I only gave them a fleeting glance before the main attraction stole my attention.

High above the twisted, sharp peaks of the skyscraper towers, a world loomed. Above us, the blue and green world partially covered by white clouds hanged. I froze, terrified of moving, fearing that the moment I'll lift my foot I'll instantly fall down on the planet that seems but a hand's reach away.

The fear didn't last long though, chased away by Kara's hand squeezing mine in reassurance. In seconds I realized that Heaven's Feel, although terrifyingly close to Earth, was still dozens of kilometers away from the surface. Meaning that even though Earth took up the sky of this space city, Heaven's Feel would never let me fall. Well, not while the artificial gravity held anyway.

Huh… speaking of which, I looked down on the smooth surface I stood on. I felt… heavier. The gravity here was higher than Earth's by a bit… Not enough to cause anything more than mild discomfort for Chiho I see but I could still feel resistance as we moved. Hmm, we'll need some time to adjust to this I think… No point in getting ourselves killed in whatever challenge Kara expects simply because we hadn't adjusted to this new gravity.

"Beautiful." I glanced up to see our Ashikabi let out a content sigh, her eyes strangely misted as she stared up at the white and blue planet above us. A second later she shook herself and looked back at me and Kara, her expression slightly bashful.

"Sorry I got caught up in the moment-" She tried to apologize, much to my surprise, but Kara interrupted her with a single lazy wave of her hand, still staring up, her light brown eyes narrowed as something troubled her.

"What is it, Teacher?" Haihane beat me to the question.

"Something is wrong." Our Captain answered after a minute of silence, her voice plagued by confusion. "This...this doesn't look quite like Earth. I've seen pictures of it from space and we are currently above Japan. I can see Asia, I can see Australia...where's America?"

"Huh?" Several voices, including my own, practically chorused as we all squinted at the blue globe above, trying to find the missing continent...and failing. I mean, it's true that we are currently Japan so one might argue that we shouldn't be able to see America. But that's not necessarily true, the North part of the North American Continent practically touches the far East reach of Russia. I could see that quite fine...but no North America. Just an empty ocean. Speaking of which...is it just me or is Asia and Japan...significantly smaller than they should be? Is...is this even Earth? Have we been deceived?

"M-maybe it's j-just on the other s-side?" Chiho swallowed heavily, her voice strained as the same realization dawned clearly upon her. "I m-mean...this is Earth...r-right?"

"No, we should still be able to see quite a bit of Alaska and what not." Haihane frowned, as she stared skyward. "It should be there but perhaps it's those dark clouds that we can see just on the edge that are blocking it from view."

"Perhaps we should decide what to do first?" I suggested after a few seconds of studying the dark gray clouds that obscured all of the eastern part of the world from us. "Should we continue on or rest?"

"We do have until the end of tomorrow…" Kara hummed in thought as she turned around to look at something longingly. I turned with her to find the gigantic 8 edged pyramid that represented the center of Heaven's Feel in Kara's inner world. Atop its blunt tip, 8 pillars shot beams of pure white light into the sky and I could Feel a slight pull within me, urging me softly to go there. That must be where the Final Stage will take place. Yet...yet there was no need to go there just yet. I could feel the pull, sure, but… I could easily ignore it. And really, something tells me that if I really was pressed for time ignoring the call would be...difficult.

"Then we rest." Chiho practically ordered, her voice harboring no doubt. "Today was far too trying for us to continue. We rest, sleep and then move out in the morning."

"Where will we rest?" I almost let out a sigh of relief when I heard Beni finally start talking, her somber mood apparently receding somewhat. It was a valid question too. We currently stood on a platform, surveying the surrounding area with a bit of elevation on our side. All around, like twisted spikes of a porcupine, skyscrapers rose, reaching out to the blue planet above. Surprisingly, there were no roads. Just...grass. Everywhere I looked; it was either the silver talons of the buildings, glassy white of stone, or green of the grass.

"Maybe over there?" Uzume asked questioningly, pointing at a gleam of red that we could just barely make out amidst this forest of spikes.

"Might as well, yea?" Haihane shrugged with an easy going attitude, her left arm still around Chiho's waist.

And just like that, with nothing better to do, we all headed over towards the red glow practically hidden by the matte silver of the skyscrapers around us. As we walked, I couldn't help but notice that the thick grass under our feet was also alien. It was...strange. To see something so common to be...well, different. The blades were thicker and the green color actually also had a reddish hue hidden within. It was also far more durable than the grass I am used to as even when I tried to stomp a couple times, it did absolutely nothing to it. In fact, not only did it spring back up looking completely untouched, it also suppressed practically all sounds. Even when I tried stomping I could hear on a faint rustle.

It was...strange to see something so common be so different. Although… I paused for a moment when I saw just what the red glow was; it seems that grass is not the only well-known turned alien here. A forest stood before us as we rounded the corner around the thick base of the talon skyscraper. I think… I think that only now, after seeing the forest, did I really start to understand that we… The Sekirei really are Alien to this planet. We may have grown up here, we may be compatible with Humankind, but… we are foreigners to this planet. And here… Here, on Heaven's Feel, do we see a glimmer of what our past, our true home, used to be.

The forest burned bright before us. Trunks and branches of solid, opaque dark red crystal. Myriads of leaves of thin, shuriken looking leaves that glowed a vivid red yet soft light. They also seemed to flutter and rustle on their own accord, for there was no wind at all in this still city. Overall, it was almost as if we walked in on a forest fire in progress, the deceptive movement of the leaves made it look like flames were literally everywhere, moving around in the non-existent wind. Singularly though, the trees were surprisingly short, only very few reaching anywhere above 4 or so meters and their branches were few in number. Although, the leaves were practically everywhere, their movement making each tree seem like it's a roaring bonfire.

Overall, I wasn't the only one stunned by the alien beauty of the forest before us. In fact, as Chiho began to slowly make her way towards the treeline, her widely opened eyes showing just how enthralled she was by the sight before us, we all grouped around her, all staring with wonder. We all stared, unable to lift our eyes from the enthralling flames before us. It was here that-

"Wait...those are-" Haihane suddenly murmured her eyes fixed on the leaves of the tree closest to us.

"Those aren't leaves…" Chiho said breathlessly, her eyes darting from that tree to the rest and then back. "Those are flowers."

And indeed, now that we were closer, I could also see past the illusion of fire that the forest cast upon us. These 'trees' had no leaves. What I thought were thin, shuriken looking leaves were actually 6 petaled flowers, whose long and massive petals slowly moved on their own accord, drifting in the still air.

Mere seconds after realizing this, we came into the range of their scent. It was...subtle at first, but it quickly escalated into an all-encompassing blanket that slowly yet firmly coated us. I paused for an instant, unable to understand what it really was. It was… it was… almost as if I was back in Kara's room, lying in the soft blankets, its owner's firm arms around me and mine around her. I closed my eyes for a moment, breathing in Kara's scent, the soft light of the morning sun filtering through the curtains to nudge at me, gently telling me to wake up.

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking a couple times, almost as if I really did just wake up. Beside me, I could see Kara do the same, sleep slowly disappearing from her eyes as she sighed soundlessly and glanced up at me. Wordlessly, we held each other close, even as I watched the rest of the group slowly come out of the light trance-like state the scent of these ruby flowers lulled us in.

"Let's...let's rest here." Chiho said softly, yet firmly as she began to walk towards the fiery forest once more. I simply shrugged and followed Kara's pull as she instantly followed our Ashikabi. I once more breathed in this incredibly relaxing scent that I still couldn't name and just closed my eyes for a moment again, feeling the terrible tension of the day just...drain. I could almost feel it slither off of my body like foul liquid washed away by a gentle, hot shower…


	84. Gate:Contingency

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Nice to see you're still around Kyranol.

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><p>"Huh?" I blinked, stunned, as I suddenly found myself half-sitting against a tree, Kara's body leaning on mine, her head resting on my shoulder. All around us, the fiery glow died down somewhat, the flowers' colors slowly fading to practically match the dark crystal they spawned from.<p>

"Awake?" A voice startled me and I hurriedly looked over to my other side to see Chiho sitting by a neighboring tree, in a center of a pile made up by Haihane, Beni and Uzume, looking at me. "You scared us, going out like that for almost 6 hours."

"W-what?" I felt my eyes open wide at her chiding yet relieved tone. "But I rested my eyes for just a moment!"

"That was one hell of a long moment then." Kara answered, startling both of us, her eyes still closed. "You just fell on me, out instantly. Anyway, just go back to sleep."

Still stunned, I glanced around, noticing how we were now apparently deep the in the forest as I could not see the blue planet above us anymore. Just the various shades of red surrounded us now, even the red underside present in the grass below our feet looked a lot brighter than it was before.

Speaking of grass, I looked up as I heard it rustle ever so faintly, seeing Chiho approach, a long white dress covering her legs, making it seem as if my Ashikabi was hovering as she slowly approached me. Uzume once again has outdone herself and created something incredible for our Chiho. Instead of the dark red coat over a white blouse and fairly loose black pants that she wore back at the island, a white dress clung to her petite frame now. I mean, Chiho loves dresses and what not, but I guess it's difficult not to when you look so damn good in them. Even now, it looked like she was a white sky fairy softly gliding along the green grass amongst the dying inferno around us. I really got to hand it to Uzume, she was...phenomenal.

"Yes, my Ashikabi? You shouldn't worry about me, I am alright." I inquired after a minute of silence during which Chiho simply stared at me and Kara with vacant eyes after sitting down before us. It took a few more seconds of Chiho staring at me blankly, her eyes narrowed in thought, before she finally talked.

"Can you use your suit to contact Earth?" She glanced upwards briefly before continuing. "I need to talk to Miss Sahashi."

"What happened to your phone?" I asked, looking pointedly at her phone which clearly lay on top of her clothes pile by the currently sleeping Haihane. "What about everyone else?"

"No signal." Kara startled me once more but this time she opened her eyes. "We can't reach anyone using our phones."

"Oh." I paused for a moment before realization hit me and I felt the urge to scratch the back of my head in embarrassment. I must be still asleep if I am asking silly questions like that. We are way out of range of their cell phones no doubt so of course they'd wait for me to wake up for this, I thought as I hit a couple buttons in my collar to open the armour panel covering a small touch display on my left arm. After all, Sahashi ordered my suit outfitted with a signal amplifier and extended receiver. It was at times like these that I stopped and wondered… just what else did Takami ordered mounted into my suit when I wasn't looking? Honestly, at first it was just a bluetooth phone with a touchscreen on my left arm. Then she had the holo projector embedded into the chest as well as the aforementioned amplifier and receiver into the back for the video to work. I am more than sure that I have at least a few trackers as well as vitals monitoring and who knows what else…

"Hmm…" I hummed, looking at the 23% signal strength my screen showed, wondering if it'll be enough before I decided to try it anyway. A few seconds later, the inner speakers hidden in my collar started to buzz with the typical phone ringing sound. I rerouted the sound to the outer speakers that sat inside the armour on my hips with an absent minded touch of the screen as I waited for Takami to pick up. Suddenly, the signal strength jumped up to 37% and my screen rippled before stating that connection was established with something called '01' with a 'Sound Only' error stating that the signal strength wasn't enough to get video. The error was to be expected, anything less than 50% wouldn't even get the video to run. That being said, the amplifier in my armour was apparently the smaller, more sophisticated brother of what MBI puts into their satellites so the fact that I am getting only 37% is worrisome. Speaking of worrisome, just who the hell is this '01'...?

"Rei?! Rei! I-is this you?" Dai's voice came through. "Please, answer me Rei!"

I hesitated in answering, glancing at our startled Ashikabi an at Kara who suddenly shifted into a crouch, staring at the screen on my arm intensely. The biggest reason for my hesitance though, was just how...complex Dai's voice sounded. There was severe exhaustion, depression, sadness, a lot of anger with an equal amount of resolute desperation and at the heart of this mess, just a tiny sliver of hope.

"What's wrong Dai?" Chiho unfroze just as I was about to answer and pressed forth, her hands on the ground to support her leaning posture. "What's going on, are you alright?"

"Ch-Chiho?" Dai's voice cracked. "B-big sister? Oh thank the Gods I finally reached you!"

"Sorry kid, we didn't have any communication up to now." Kara joined in seeing as Chiho was momentarily stunned by the sheer relief we heard in Dai's voice. I absentmindedly marveled how Chiho insisted on Dai calling her a big sister and yet grew flustered and blushing each time the kid did it.

"But now that we did," I added. "Can you tell us what's going on? In the world and in Shinto Teito?"

"T-the w-world?" There was a rather long pause during which we all exchanged confused looks. "D-do you...know anything?"

"Kid, answer the question." Kara frowned at Dai's hesitance.

"All we know is that Americans attacked Kamikura island Dai." Chiho quickly added after Kara's words. "That's all."

"Uh...okay…" Dai's voice grew small, almost like she didn't want to talk before she drew a shaky breath and charged in. "Theworldkindaended."

"...What." I blankly asked, refusing to understand what I heard in that rushed message.

"What do you mean, the world ended?" Kara barked, her eyes narrowing into slits. "Speak properly and explain yourself right now!"

"Um, the Americans and the Japanese government attacked Shinto Teito and the Russian fleet anchored nearby. Russia retaliated and NATO declared war on Russia...the rest of the world kinda...joined in?" Dai still spoke fast apparently eager to get this out of the way but at least we could understand her. "An hour later, the North American continent just...seized to exist. It shattered and sunk below the water."

"The hell?" I muttered, bewildered. "How does an entire continent-"

"I did notice an unusual activity from Miss Greene." Dai hesitantly said. "I've seen some footage of her in command of a squad of engineers and Specialists loading up...interesting equipment on your dropship. I later hacked the dropship logs and apparently they've been visiting a lot of volcanoes and other seismically unstable places all over America."

"Minaka's contingency plan?" Kara muttered, grudgingly impressed while Chiho looked horrified.

"He...h-he j-just k-k-killed millions…" Chiho stuttered, looking like she had terrible time trying to wrap her mind around it. "Hundreds of millions…"

"Hang on…" My eyes widened as I remembered something. "If North America is now broken and sunk to the ground then that means that you...how are you still all alive?"

"Wh- Oh my God!" Chiho nearly jumped from realization. "Dai! Are you alright? What about everyone else, is the base-"

"We are okay Chiho!" Dai quick interruption landed us a small pause while Chiho slowly sank down on the ground again before the former AI continued. "For now anyway… We are practically out of power though and I was forced to shut down all non-critical systems including the Capsules."

"The Sekirei inside are fine and all but…" I could basically feel the helpless shrug. "We won't last long. Food, fresh water...power… All levels but this one are flooded and destroyed and even here we only really have 3 rooms."

"If…Well…" Dai's hesitant words dropped heavily in the sudden silence. "We'll last for a while. Maybe...maybe a week or so? I am not sure, we have an ocean on our heads now, if it wasn't for Tamotsu and Hoshiko patching all the leaks that keep springing up, we'd be gone by now too…"

"We'll rescue you long before then." Chiho stood up, her voice strong. "A few days at most and we'll be there, I swear it."

"Thank you." Dai finally replied in a quiet voice, even as Chiho looked up at the dark disk, barely visible through the forest, above us. Dawn was still far away but once it hit… Well, the Final Stage had to start some time.

* * *

><p>It was difficult falling asleep. I am not sure if it's the fact that I am currently lying in my armour on a forest floor with dim red glow everywhere, emitted by the surrounding trees. Or maybe it's the fact that I just woke up from an involuntary 6 hour nap? It could also be the worry for everyone waiting for us on the black planet slowly rotating above me. Worry about the Sekirei and MBI forces in Shinto Teito fighting a desperate fight against the rest of Japan and the invading American fleet - or what was left of it after their practically mutual destruction with the Russian fleet. It could be the fact that Dai and her 3 young aids are currently doing everything they can to keep the underground base that is slowly breaking apart somewhat intact.<p>

Maybe it's all of them coming together. I always knew that the fate of the whole world and its inhabitants would be in the hands of the victors of the Final Stage. I always knew that if I, the power I'd hold would be… But Dai's tidings really...drove it home. I mean… I never really thought of the average people. Of what me - us - winning, would entail for them. As far as I knew, they'd simply relive 20 or so years of their life and it wouldn't really matter to them had I won or not.

It was always about my kin, about Sekirei. Always about protecting them against the tide of darkness that current Humanity generates simply by existing. Frankly, I never really thought about Humans because, really, what's going to happen to them? What could possibly happen to the race that dominates this planet as its single and absolute ruler? What could possibly happen to the Entity that could annihilate us simply by becoming aware of our existence? Something that I consider a...constant of this world, of our life.

Ha...hahahaha… And now, that constant - they - are all dead. The constant threat of doom has lifted for Doomsday has come and gone… Well, it's still in progress actually. Most of Humankind is gone now, vaporised in Nuclear fire, drowned in the cold ocean waters...dying to conventional warfare. World War 3 kicked off with one hell of a big welcoming party that a good third of all humans failed to survive and more are dying by the second. Dai projected that by the time everything stabilizes; only 1 out of 100 current humans will survive.

To think that now it's not just roughly 300 Sekirei whose fate is in my hands but instead now fate of more than 7 and a half billion lives is...

I sighed and sat up, giving up the foolish hope of sleeping. Carefully, I got up and began to quietly walk amongst the trees. I really should let my family sleep, especially after the shattering events of this gods forsaken day. It may have ended and Kusano fixed everything but…

I felt a humourless smirk stretch my lips as I slowly shuffled forward aimlessly. It was amusing really, if one thought about it. Everyone fought so hard, so many died despite their best efforts and yet… Kusano came and undid everything, reset everyone. At the end of the day it all worked out and, honestly, I much prefer it to be this. The billion dollar question however, is could I do the same? If - no, when - I on, would I be able to be as successful as the Sekirei of Life? Would I be able to save the lives of more than 7 billion humans and around 300 Sekirei?

All this time, I've kept telling myself that any outcome is better than what is happening now. After seeing Kusano perform frankly the same feat and come out all the better, I should only firmer in my determination, right? I mean, that'd be the logical thing, something I'd expect from myself. And yet… yet the only thing Kusano's actions did was plant seeds of doubt in my mind.

Would I be able to succeed as she has? Would the future I'll bring be better? All this time I've carefully avoided these questions. I did my best not to think about them, just desperately hoping that the answer is yes. But with Kusano casually accomplishing the impossible… she jolted my mind, forcing those question to the forefront, forcing me to walk around as I did now, trying to find the answers.

How many times have I regretted Archive's absence now? His input would be invaluable now. Never before had I been as tempted as I was now. Tempted to call for him, to bring out of his healing meditative stance he has been in for years now. To feel his warm, soothing and caring presence in the back of my mind once more and have him help me with this dilemma.

I'd never do that though. I'd never risk him. Archive's state is...fragmented at best, he was practically a cloud of shattered shards before I forced him to focus on repairing his self to a decent state. With the memory of him a touch away from breaking into nothingness completely, I'd never call him until he's ready. I'll agonise and spend a sleepless night over this but I'll find the answers myself.

I stopped and sighed before tilting my head to look at the black disk above, just visible through the dim red flowers. The only way I could even see its existence was the absence of the myriad of stars. The dark void in the shape of a circle, a void amidst the myriad pinpricks of light swimming in the velvet night. It was...oddly unsettling. The pictures Archive showed me the dark disk alit with millions upon billions of artificial lights. Street lights, lights in the houses, lit billboards, light everywhere… Except, there was nothing there now. Emptiness. Darkness. Absence of Everything.

Was it really so difficult to beat This? I laughed softly, no mirth in my voice. Now that I've calmed down and thought of it... Truly, what was I afraid of? How could I possibly be worse than this? Anything is better than Nothing after all. No matter What I do, it is bound to be an improvement in comparison to This.

"I cannot fail." I whispered with a self-deprecating smile on my lips. "How can I fail if no such thing as failure exists?"

I laughed, the cruel sound echoing amongst the softly rustling trees whose gentle red glow warded me against the darkness.


	85. Gate:Close

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: Sorry for the delay, I was thinking whether or not I should split this into 2... And then I decided to write ahead some... Eh.

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><p>"This is rather...tall." Haihane remarked, her claws clinking as she nervously twitched her hands. We stood before a gigantic 8 sided pyramid in the center of Heaven's Feel. We could feel it from the moment we stepped through the portal. At first we didn't pay it attention as much more important things occupied our thoughts and it didn't really bear down on us. It all changed this morning through, just as the first rays of sunlight finally snuck around the dark sphere of the planet above us.<p>

It was sort of like an alarm just outside of hearing range. You couldn't really hear it and yet it still put on the edge. Even Chiho could feel something at this point albeit she couldn't describe it at all, the words just wouldn't come to our Ashikabi.

The noise led us to this Pyramid whose top was roughly halfway to the talon like skyscrapers keeping a respectable distance around it. The moment we stepped off the grass 'street' and onto the white, metallic stones that served as the foundation of the monumental structure, the noise stopped, making us all breathe out a sigh of relief. It was clear that the Final Stage of the Sekirei Plan lay on top of this gigantic structure made of platinum blocks. Although I am not sure if this is platinum, after all, the...sheen is not right. I couldn't say what it was but...it just didn't look like platinum.

Whoever made this thing really pulled all stops out, I thought as we slowly began our trek up the seemingly infinite stairs. A base made of some sort of white stone that acted like stone yet looked like metal. The pyramid itself made of platinum or something, gleamed brightly under the sun. The stairs, made of… rubies? No, seriously? I bent down and ran my fingers over the interlocked octagons. The gloves prevented me from saying for sure, but it looks like it's made of myriads of exactly the same rubies, each one roughly the size of the pommels on my swords.

"Incredible…" Chiho mumbled, her hands running gently over the smooth surface of the stairs. Nearby, Beni, Haihane and Uzume all marveled at the gems, awe clear on their faces. But then again, we were all awed… except for Kara who merely continued on, not giving the gems below her feet more than a single glance. Our Captain looked rather...driven, ever since we came to the base of this pyramid.

It was almost like my Pillar knew what awaited us up there and was very keen on meeting it. Judging by the way her hand was clenched on the hilt of her nodachi, I could easily tell that whatever awaited us, Kara was expecting it to be hostile. I mean, none of us really expected the Finale of the this 'Game' to be...peaceful. Minaka didn't operate like that. As for whoever was behind him…

I sighed as we climbed. No data. No information whatsoever. Frustrating. Here we were, on the final steps and none of us knew who was behind this insanity. In just a little while we will be starting to prepare to go back in time to stop this madness. But how? Now that we know it's not Minaka, how do we stop it? For a moment I entertained the thought that they might be waiting for us up there but then discarded it practically instantly, life wasn't like some trashy spy movie after all.

Thankfully, before I could wind myself up more, we arrived. Arrived, only to pause in awe at what we saw.

It was a magnificent scene, one that true to everything I saw so far, both messed with my mind and looked completely alien. The ruby stairs suddenly shifted into a single blood red frame that encompassed the whole of the octagonal pyramid top. On the edges of the 8 edged flat top, 8 obelisks stood, each one different colour, each one stretching half a dozen meters into the sky, each one emitting a surprisingly dull lance of white light into the planet above. I took note that the 2 obelisks we arrived in between were a pale green and a vivid purple, not that I understood the meaning of them.

However, the main attraction was the solid lake that gently rippled within it's crimson frame. At first I thought it was a mirror, so perfectly did it reflect everything around it, but then I saw the ripples...wait...those...those aren't… Before my stunned eyes, Kara stepped onto the reflective surface and it...glitched? Those weren't really ripples, they were glitches in the surface of whatever the hell this was. Just random glitches that appeared and disappeared seemingly randomly. So is this like one giant display screen or something?

I forced myself to ignore that train of thought for far more important things required my attention. For instance, after glancing down to make that this...surface holds, Kara began to slowly make her way to the figure sitting the dead center of this place, facing to the side of us. I hurried to catch up, the rest of the group close behind. There was little I could tell about who it was sitting. Long, lustrous purple air was arranged in such a way as to hide the face yet at the same time I noticed that most of it was pulled to the back, flowing down the robes like an ethereal waterfall. The white robes with strange and alien designs done in crimson prevented me from seeing the details of the stranger's figure. It was odd that I didn't spot the stranger at first but now that I did, I couldn't take my eyes off of them. The power and presence they practically radiated prevented me from doing so. At the same time though, it sent me into unease. If it proves to be hostile… There were maybe only 10 or so meters left when Kara suddenly stopped and slowly drew her sword, setting into a posture that would allow her to dash forward at a moment's notice.

"Somehow, I knew it'd come to this." Kara's surprisingly blank voice broke through the still air. "So it was you after all."

We stopped and watched as the figure slowly got up from it's knees in a single smooth motion and turned to us, gasps and cries of surprise erupting from us all save for Kara who merely watched. For the one facing us was none other than Miya. The former Number 1 watched us with a tired expression, her right hand holding a katana loosely.

"No…" Chiho breathed out, her voice shaky. "No, no, no, no, no! This Can't be happening!"

I slowly moved back to stand as a shield between my Ashikabi and the doom incarnate before us, silently cursing fate. I wanted to know what Kara was so afraid of after the mess that The Fourth Stage? Welp, package delivered, please sign here. I am really having major doubts right now about this whole venture… was the Sekirei Plan even beatable?

"Why you!?" Uzume all but shouted at the tired woman that more than once cooked for us and provided decent company - provided Takehito was present. "You who did so much for us, for me… was it all a cruel joke to you? Something for you to laugh at while you orchestrated the destruction of our kind?"

"I suspected things from the beginning about you." Kara started calmly but then began laughing bitterly. "But to think that slavery wasn't enough and you wanted to kill off your own race from the very start in this joke of a game? To think that you killed them with one hand while you fed and cared for them with the other. What a 2 faced bitch you are."

"No one died." Miya said softly and yet it seemed like the city itself spoke when she did, each word practically engraving itself in our minds. "The Sekirei kind has always been one of the most difficult races to kill in the universe. The loss of a body is but a mild grievance to us."

"Bullshit." Beni suddenly called out, angry red energy starting to swirl around her. "Dozens of Sekirei died by your hands! They died, damn it!"

"So long as the Sekirei itself is intact," Miya said patiently, not even bothering to look at the seething Beni. "The loss of the inhabited body is an inconvenience, at best."

"You are making it seem as if Sekirei are a parasite or something!" Chiho exclaimed in angry disbelief.

"The human word 'parasite' is insufficient." Miya turned her gaze to Chiho slowly. "We are Sekirei."

"Really?" Haihane adjusted her claws, her posture implying readiness to dash in at a moment's notice. "You really think that 'Wagtail' describes us better?"

"The human word Sekirei and what Sekirei call themselves are merely a coincidence, nothing more." Miya's tired, slightly robotic tone was beginning to make me suspicious. "We are Sekirei, nothing more, nothing less - nothing else."

"You…" I hesitated for a moment, unsure if my hunch is correct. "You are not Asama Miya, are you?"

"I am Number 1, Miya." The creature before me answered. "Asama Miya is me, but I am not Asama Miya."

"A clone? A projection? A twin?" Haihane fired off a rapid stream of questions.

"Irrelevant." Number 1 tilted her head and suddenly took a step forward, making us all tense. "You have made a mistake trying to fight my plan. It was designed to weaken me and give you all a chance of victory. Now though-"

"How does killing our kind weaken you?" Kara interrupted, her voice showing genuine interest. At the same time she glanced back at me and I nodded, moving closer to Chiho. Once the fight starts, it'll be up to me to evacuate her and protect our Ashikabi.

"As the one who cheated the system with the help of the Last Directive Feather, you should know or feel it." Number 1 paused in her stride. "A Pillar absorbs 8 percent of the power generated by any Sekirei aligned to it. When the one humans call Number 51 aligned itself with you, you became a Pillar."

"In fact, to make this fairer," Miya closed her eyes and suddenly Beni, Uzume and Haihane staggered, disoriented. "I've rejected these 3 Feathers from my Flock."

"Haihane! Uzume, Benitsubasa!" Chiho tried to dash towards her Sekirei but I intervened, holding her behind my back. "Rei! Let me-"

"Stay!" I tried to make the command soft but I could feel the flinch Chiho gave. "They are alright, don't move."

"W-we are f-fine…" Uzume stuttered, crouching on the floor, shivering. "J-just give us a minute…"

"We a-are alright." Beni tried to reassure our worried Ashikabi as she stood up and readied herself. Beside her, Haihane straightened up from a low slouch and flexed her claws, a hint of uncertainty in her posture still present.

"You have 1 minute to get ready." Miya turned and headed back to the center of this glitchy lake. "That is roughly equivalent to 98 and a half Earth seconds. Good luck."

"Kara-!" I called my...Pillar. It was strangely odd to think that thanks to me, Kara cheated the system of the Sekirei Plan.

"No." She turned to face me, already guessing what I meant. "It'll take too long. Stay on defence with Chiho. Uzume, range support. Haihane, activate Norito and support me. Benitsubasa, charge up."

Tch, I knew it was a long shot but having those 3 swear into her 'Flock' as Miya calls, would power her up and, frankly, Kara is our one chance of winning. The rest of us will be distractions and mild nuisances at best to someone of Miya's caliber. I find it funny how, in the end, all our efforts to save Sekirei only to lead to a massive handicap here and now. There's roughly half a hundred Sekirei aligned to Miya right now and with all of them currently powering up the Goddess before us… This will be...a difficult fight to say the least.

As I idly watched Haihane activate her Norito with Chiho, I thought on Number 1's words. She called me the Last Directive Feather and apparently, I was unaligned from the start. Why? What am I that I am apparently so special? All this time, I was surrounded by basically monsters, each one capable of wiping out cities if not more. Miya, Kara, Akitsu, Yume, Beni, Uzume and many others… Sure there's many weaker Sekirei to whom I may seem like a monster myself but in comparison I find myself...lacking.

I tensed as the entire lake suddenly rippled and glitched, the reflections suddenly full of static. The pillars that gave off faint light suddenly blazed to life and a golden hexagonal barrier shimmered into life, cutting the top of the pyramid from the rest of the world. Slowly, before us, Mya lifted her sword over her head.

Silently, we all scattered and just in the nick of time. I felt my jaw drop as I watched...something speed by and splash on the barrier that flickered but held. Whatever it was, the very fabric of the world it passed through...glitched. It was like we were in one of Haihane's video games of something and Miya used a cheating attack that caused the world to briefly crash where ever it passed through. Nervously, I giggled as I thought that the Blue Screen of Death that I saw a couple times on Haihane's computer that we'd get after being hit by it won't be fixable with a simple reset.

Thankfully, Number 1 didn't have a chance to launch anymore of these cheat attacks as Kara was instantly on her and Haihane followed a moment later. Uzume circled around them rapidly on her silk legs, occasionally shooting hypersonic lances at Miya while Beni ran laps, charging up her Shock Charge. All in all, it looked good...at first glance. In reality, I felt a chill in my spine as seconds passed by. Miya, Kara and Haihane fought at such speeds that no normal Sekirei would see anything more then blurs. Although I don't know how long Kara could keep up that pace, I knew that Haihane wasn't very experienced in fighting in her Norito which was the only thing that let her fight at that speed in the first place. I myself wouldn't be able to fight at that speed but my saving grace is that my Gates allow me to close off sections of space before me for up to half a second which, in high speed fights, is practically eternity.

But that was just the start of our problems. Miya apparently decided to escalate the fight and began to flicker or glitch through attacks. The first time it happened, only Kara's incredible reflexes saved her from Uzume's lance that flew through where Miya used to be an instant ago. It was as if Number 1 was momentarily not there at the instant of impact and yet the very next millisecond she almost sliced a cursing Haihane in 2.

It was...worrisome to see such tactics employed by our enemy. It was similar to what I do, but unlike me who had to activate and deactivate it, Miya simply wasn't there for that moment. Although Haihane, Kara and Uzume were used to fighting a foe who can dematerialize at a moment's notice, Miya's ability was a lot faster. Still, it didn't seem much of a problem when Kara called up her miasma, the gray corruption blanketing over her and her blade. Miya only tried glitching through her attack once and then never again as the spray of miasma left by the passing blade corroded a slash across her midsection and gave Miya an acid like burn.

For a moment… for a moment I dared to hope we were winning. But then… then things began to go downhill. Haihane fumbled, her inexperience at such speeds causing her to overreach slightly and when Miya glitched through her attack the Blue Sekirei practically fell into her grasp. The next moment she hit Haihane hard, unbalancing her further and if it wasn't for Kara's furious charge, would've probably kill our Blue Sekirei. But even so, Haihane didn't escape unharmed, Miya's sword managed to reach just enough to slash Haihane's right shoulder. A slight flesh wound but at these speeds…

Now that Haihane slowed down due to her wound and caution, it was up to Uzume to pick up the slack as Miya began to press forward. Seeing her arrows become more of a liability than a weapon, Uzume attacked with her silk directly, the 6 strands getting demolished as fast as Uzume sent them in. However, she did succeed at drawing some of Miya's attention. Enough that Number 1 suddenly turned her way and -

"Uzume!" Chiho screeched in pain and horror.

I watched in shock as Uzume stumbled away, blood gushing from her throat. The Silk Sekirei reacted too late to dodge Miya's blade as she suddenly glitched through all attacks to appear near Uzume but she managed to twist away just enough to not lose her head entirely. Normally, that wouldn't have mattered as Uzume still received a fatal wound but when Uzume's stands snaked around her throat and then into her mouth I began to hope that she'd pull through. It was clear that the fight was over for her but I had high hopes of her living now and silently thanked the gods that Beni forced her to take some first aid lessons.

"Take this you bitch!" Apparently, whatever Miya did prevented her from glitching again for some period of time because when Beni came in like a falling star of wraith she was forced to parry rather than flicker through it. That turned out to be a very bad idea as Beni's Shock Charge carried her all the way across the lake, into the barrier and then - with a loud sound of shattered glass - through the barrier. Beni herself stooped over, panting, as we all watched the broken hex in the barrier begin to stitch itself back together.

"Is she-?" Chiho whispered, most likely to herself, as we all watched the hex solidify and then blink as it fully restored itself. Only to shatter once more as a massive crescent of Miya's glitchy energy broke through and sped inside, it's owner right behind it.

"Beni!" I had to visibly hold myself back as I watched my young sister fall in agony. Miya was apparently pulling all stops because, although everyone clearly dodged, the glitchy attack suddenly flickered and appeared in another place altogether. Beni simply didn't have time to do anything more than jump...and lose both of her legs just above her knees. Considering the attack was about to bisect her, she got off fairly lucky but despite this all of my being was pushing to go help. To protect my Beni and make Miya suffer. It was only Chiho's presence at my back that stopped me. I couldn't leave her, Miya would go after her instantly. So instead I ground my teeth in helpless hate, trying to set the culprit on fire with my eyes. I felt no small amount of vengeful glee and pride for Beni as I looked at Number 1's ragged form.

Miya frankly looked like she got hit by a train. Her robes were in tatters that didn't cover her naked body at all, her hair frizzled and - most importantly - she held a shattered fragment of a sword, maybe a foot of the metal left. Number 1 paused and then ripped the tattered remnants of her robes off, getting rid of the encumbering article as she stood before us nude. Just a single look at her body was enough to say that this fight wasn't easy for Miya either. Burns, cuts, massive bruises… if anything, the Sekirei Pillar looked like she spend a day or 2 with an eager torturer.

Yet… yet I couldn't help but feel my hopes and my glee wither. Despite how terrible Miya looked, her facial expression and the way she moved didn't show anything at all. The feeling of incredible power that she gave off didn't diminish a single bit. It was as if she was completely fine, not looking like she's been through Hell and back. In fact, I stared in disbelief, she even projected a flickering blade to make up for the missing part of the sword she held. Just what the hell does it take to bring her down?! Any regular Sekirei would be at the very least downed in this state and yet here she is, standing regal and cold, as if taking a stroll through the park.

For a moment, everything was at peace. Miya stood before Kara who still didn't have a single scratch on her. Haihane stood beside her mentor, clearly tired, wincing occasionally as she moved her blood soaked shoulder. Off to the side, Beni tried to sit up with Uzume's help, the stumps that were all that was left of her legs already bandaged up by the Silk Sekirei. I stood at the ready, my blades glowing soft light blue, ready to defend our Ashikabi who breathed shallowly behind me. I paused at that though, was Chiho going into a panic attack?

'Breathe, Chiho.' I sent a mental message down our bond, hearing Chiho's breath hitch as she got it. 'Deep breaths, in and out.'

One of the benefits of our bond was that I didn't have to look to see if my Ashikabi listened and was trying to calm down. I could feel her try to reign in her fear and panic at the sight of 2 of her beloved Sekirei down with critical injuries, 1 more injured and the enemy still standing strong. A boon that I found myself thanking feverishly as Miya suddenly turned her gaze at me… or more specifically at the one I protected. She must've used the same ability as when she took down Haihane because one moment there she stood and the next, she dodged my blades as I pushed myself to put as many rips in the fabric of the world between us as I could. I was most definitely fortunate that she couldn't flicker through my Gates. The one time she tested it, she lost another half a foot of her blade, forcing her to back away momentarily as she recreated her blade with her power from scratch. Her power may have crashed the part of the world she struck, but mine ripped it apart entirely, overriding whatever cheat she tried to pull off.

In a way, I was a counter to Miya's bullshit power… Which made it all the more bitter that I simply wasn't enough to fight Number 1. Skill, speed, strength, endurance… I was overall entirely inferior and had the fight lasted any longer than those 2 or 3 seconds, Miya would've found a way around me somehow no doubt. However, those few seconds were enough for Haihane and Kara to cross the lake and engage Miya once more, pressuring her away from both me and Chiho.

Once more, the trio danced, but this time I could see Haihane slowly begin to be forced back, nicks and scratches began to accumulate on her as she slowed down due to battle fatigue. It was amazing that the whole fight lasted maybe as much as 5 minutes and yet so much happened. Altogether I was impressed with Kara's student. Fighting an enemy that outclasses you several times over for so long was literally a Heroic feat. It's not really even diminished by the fact that Kara was there considering that Miya now focused her attention on the Blue Sekirei, trying to put her out of commission. I mean, it was a sound strategy, picking away at us one by one...not that I liked it one bit.

"Haihane! NO!" Chiho yelled as a sudden explosion erupted from the fighters. In what must've been like fractions of a second, multiple things happened once more. I saw Miya parry Kara's blade and instantly flicker through Haihane's attack, ending up to her right. The next moment, she hacked off Haihane's right arm that stretched out to hit her but a moment ago. Her blade came up to slice into the Blue Sekirei once more but then Haihane unleashed her Norrito in a single explosion of wind in a last ditch attempt to survive.

Much to our relief, it worked, the force of such a close attack slamming Miya into the force field surround us once more with quite a few new cuts added to her body. Unfortunately, Kara was also blasted into the other side of the energy dome, her clothes shredded by her student's attack. And unlike Miya who landed nimbly on her feet and was already turning to us, ignoring Haihane, Kara fell disoriented, stumbling as she got up from the unexpected assault. I watched, with the corner of my eye, as Haihane picked up her arm and stumbled over to Uzume who rose to meet her. The Blue Sekirei's part in this fight was clearly over and now…

Now it was my turn as I intercepted Miya's glitchy arc with criss-crossed Gates that simply canceled the attack.

'Back up!' I called mentally to Chiho as I steadied, readying for the charging Number 1. I could only hope that Kara will shake off her disorientation in time to help me. I held no vain hopes of being able to best the Pillar, even in her condition. Hold her at bay and buy time? Sure, I'll do my best and more to accomplish that. There was nothing else I could do after all.

Years of combat experience and training and the most I could do was cordon off areas and force Miya to only hit specific locations, I coldly thought as my blades ripped more and more Gates in the fabric of the world before me. The fact that we were both constantly moving, Miya to circle around me and get to Chiho while I did everything to counter that, was certainly not helping. The one time she jumped, my heart missed a beat as I thought that I failed. I jumped right after and even managed to hack off a sizable bit of flesh off her left leg - that was the only thing that stopped her from reaching Chiho with the very next move. It also slowed her down enough that I began to hope again. I landed a hit on her, right? That means I could...I could... I…

I stared with shocked surprise at her blade in my side, blood already starting to dribble down my armour both inside and on the outside. Her flickering blade barely even noticed the thick armour, puncturing clean through. For a moment, we stood like that until anger forced the cold numbness out.

I did not come all this way to fall here. I did not suffer through years for this end. No. NO! I will not fall here!

For the first time, Miya's expression charged from tired sadness. She stared in shocked surprise, much like I did but a moment before, at the hilt of my blade touching her gut, the rest of the blade stretching far behind her back. Together, we fumbled back, our blades leaving each other's bodies with a soft, squelching sound. Her glitchy blade came clean, simply flickering out of my body. My blue blade however, dripped with Number 1's blood. She stared at it, as if unable to comprehend that this actually happened.

"Rei…" Chiho's frightened whisper cut through the silence just as Kara howled, a dreadful sound of rage and fear, my lover charging across the glitchy lake at an incredible speed. However, I made a mistake looking at her. Trusting my Ill Will sense I struck out blindly and even felt my left blade hit something only for my world to explode in pain.

I stumbled back, faintly hearing something in front of me fall and then a clash of swords. I fell to my knees as I suddenly found myself unable to breathe, my mouth open and I could feel my lungs try to inflate but only bring out a horrible hiss and blood to my lips. My world cleared up slightly as I watched my blades clutter to the ground, out of my suddenly unresponsive hands. I saw my hands come to my chest as if by themselves and then I felt something inside me shift and shatter.

Suddenly, I was in control again and time resumed its normal course. I could suddenly see Miya try to fight off an enraged Kara but was forced to practically flee, losing blood rapidly from a stump where her left arm used to be. I felt Chiho sob as she fell to her knees and hugged me from behind. Yet…I...I felt great. Powerful actually, as if anything in the world was mine and I just had to wish to have it. Startled, I leaned forth a bit to stare at… at a giant hole in my chest right where my Tama was. Instead, a pale blue flame burned there, quickly consuming me from inside out. My Tama...it was broken. Miya shattered my...Tama…

"Rei a-are y-you-" I turned around to my Ashikabi, her eyes growing huge as she saw the hole and flame that quickly spread inside. "Rei-!"

I interrupted her with a kiss, feeling my ghostly wings blast into existence around us. I had moments left and then Miya would come for Chiho. Kara wouldn't be able to defend our Ashikabi, our division of roles, her as Assault and me as a Guardian, played a poor trick on her defensive skills. Kara wouldn't be able to keep our Chiho safe…

So there was only one thing to do...one path to take…

"By my Ashikabi's will, I seal this path." I whispered, feeling the power in my body suddenly leave as it funneled through my hands and into Chiho. the chill returning. "The Gate is shut, none may pass through it. Gate:Close."

I knew that this was the only way for Kara to win. Now that Miya is heavily injured and missing an arm she'll press to attack Chiho. Well, let her, I giggled, wheezing, blood bubbling on my lips.

"Rei…" Chiho looked at me confused, my actions stunning her out of an on setting panic. "W-what was-"

"Live." I smiled gently at my Ashikabi, her features suddenly blurring before my eyes. "For all of us...f-for me…"

"Rei!"

Even as the cold began to spread from my chest and my power - just moments ago an overwhelming ocean now a few hurriedly drying drops - withered; I still struggled to at least keep my sight - a futile gesture. In moments, it was over. I couldn't feel any of my body now, and all sounds faded into a silence. A silence that shortly spread to everything.

Startled, I realized that I knew this silence. This all-encompassing emptiness in which my thoughts drifted and began to slow down. This...this is where I first realized that I existed. Is...is this where I return to now?

But...but I couldn't! Th-there was so much to do! So many things to experience! I… I couldn't just die, right? Not after so long, not after everything I've suffered through. I've still to restore my kind to its glory! I've still to save all of those lives that Miya doomed! I've still to finally rest with my Ashikabi! I've still to have a child with her! I've still to nurture the children Beni, Haihane, Uzume and Kara will have!

I've still to… so many things I've never experienced…

I've still to…

I've still…

I've…

I...


	86. Gate:Re Try

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Tch, well, this looks familiar." I stated simply as we hanged in pitch darkness in the middle of seemingly nothingness. As I turned ourselves around, I saw nothing, no matter where I looked. First impressions done, I instead turned my gaze on us, on our body. Or what substituted as such for now. It would seem that we were turned into a soul, a mere wisp of light and imagination. A white orb that burned with bright yet pale blue flame…<p>

Except that our flame was a weak dark blue that could be mistaken for purple. It would seem that the near destruction of my dear daughter's soul wasn't escaped without some consequences. Daughter…hah, yea… The girl that awoke in a tube filled with fluorescent liquid that glowed a pale green with me all these years ago she… But never mind, I must first ensure her safety before I can start reminiscing about the 'good old days'. I needed to make sure that she was still here with me completely for the alternatives could be quite…scary. I must see if my frantic and nigh hopeless actions actually saved my darling girl. Normally, a destruction of a Tama, the physical representation of a Sekirei's Soul from which they draw their power to do things that deny the world, would result in the complete destruction of said Sekirei.

Normally, I scoffed as I sent a mental image of patting my girl's spiky pale blue hair as she slept in her coma, what a joke. Nothing I ever do is 'normal' by any stretch of the imagination. Not then, not After and definitely, not now.

I've always had a knack for getting into spectacular trouble. In another life, I used to be a normal kid, playing around, having fun in Russia, making friends and going to school. I was going to my 9th grade when my school was taken hostage by Chechen terrorists and I was shot in the head with the rest of my friends sometime during the final assault. Or so my parents claim. I lost all of my memory prior to that moment, but strangely, only my memories yet my skills stayed, unaffected by the ordeal. In exchange, I gained Eidetic Memory from this tragedy. Hardly a worthy trade I think, losing 16 years of my life and all of my friends for perfect memory.

Still, I persevered and, with my perfect memory as well as some hard work, I finished school with a golden medal and decided to attend the University of Toronto for a chance of new life. I was sick and tired of the pity I constantly got from my relatives. Years passed by and there I was, graduating with a group of close friends. I…I don't really remember much of what happened after. I know one of my closest friends was an occultist and that he tried to do some ritual or something when we all got drunk but…

When I awoke, I was alone…all alone. In the deep, endless darkness I hanged with no body and nothing…nothing at all around me. The eternal silence, endless space and infinite darkness were my only companions as I forced myself to move across this void of no beginning nor end. I moved because I had to do Something. Because I had to focus on Something. Because otherwise…

I found that I was slowly beginning to lose my memories once more. Well, not particularly lose but some of them became bleak and emotionless, much like textbook knowledge. The thought of losing my memories once more though, the mere thought of losing what I was, what made me…me, nearly drove me insane. In this endless void I found out that only will and imagination existed. Even my body, an ephemeral wisp of light was merely an illusion created by my desperate mind.

And so, I formed a sphere inside of myself into which I placed my memories, everything I held dear. A sphere of absolute rejection that was safe from the Hungry Void. An Absolute Terror field…hah, who knew that the couple anime I have watched would be what I'd have to rely on to get me safe across the Gap-Between-Worlds.

Yet, my fear, my…terror at losing my memories, the things that me…me, was what played a cruel trick in the end. Unwittingly, I used my soul as a shield to protect my mind, forgetting that the mind is not everything that makes a person human. People, and I am no exception, often forget that that the soul is an important part of the 3 core components that make a human. Some even disagree that soul is that important or that it even exists but I know…now I know, that the soul is perhaps the most important part of the Body-Mind-Soul that made me human…

It was the little things first. Time disappeared first as I suddenly found myself just not being able to care about it anymore. Who cares how long I've spent in this eternal prison, right? Little by little, I began to lose bits of myself until eventually, I simply began to stop caring about living, content to let myself dissolve in the eternity.

I was shocked to wake up in a tube of liquid, feeling perfectly fine. Even greater was my shock that I was not in the control of the body. But the final thing that, figuratively, killed me was the fact that the body belonged to a girl. Unable to take it in, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I got bombarded by a thousand and one questions by the curious child with the body of a girl in her late teens. She wanted to know Everything. Literally. But I suppose it's understandable, from what I can see she literally is a newborn. Even the language we spoke was that of thought and images, not actual words. So I indulged the kid with an internal smile. I always liked playing around with kids, teaching them about the world.

And then came a question that made me pause…what is my name? My old name…I…I don't think I can use it. I could feel that Yaroslav Voronov wasn't my name anymore, it just… didn't feel right. As if I am stealing someone else's name. The void changed me…no, it eroded me. Who was I now? What was I now?

Surprisingly, I found it difficult to care about the situation. That, more than anything, convinced me that whatever I was, I was not Yaroslav, a Russian graduate student of University of Toronto anymore. I was… I was… No, I am but a fragment of the dead human Yaroslav. A bodiless mass of knowledge with a nigh dissolved soul - a tiny shard of what it used to be. An Archive, filled with Yaroslav's knowledge, the only piece…the only inheritance he left after himself. His proof of existence that is what I am. An Archive whose purpose is to pass its Creator's legacy to those worthy. And who could possibly be more worthy then a newly born child? A clean slate that would easily soak in the knowledge and carry it on, building upon that legacy and treasuring it. Until one day, she'll pass it onto another and my maker's legacy will live on, eternal.

But enough mopping around, a curious child awaits me. A newly born girl who I'll treasure and raise to inherit me… Hmm, that makes me a father doesn't it? I wonder what would my… no, what Yaroslav's mother would think of this development?

Over the weeks and months that followed, I aided my daughter in whatever way I could. From slowly letting her absorb Yaroslav's memories, making sure to keep the personal bits out, to analysing anything and everything around us and reporting it to my carrier. The child grew fast, eagerly absorbing any and all information that came her way.

But, I was uneasy. This world… It may look like my – Yaroslav's – Earth but it most certainly wasn't. Unless that gray haired scientist – Takami Sahashi – was lying, my daughter was a Sekirei, an alien with powers that casually broke the Natural World Laws – Physics, Biology, Chemistry – simply by existing. And what was worse was that they were forced to fight one another until no more than 1 remained. All for the sake a Wish. Any Wish… what a scary thought.

The wish that my girl fought for, the Sekirei whose power was as confusing as it was magnificent. The ability to go beyond the border, to the place where all shall arrive in due time and the one place Humanity had been curious about since its conception. And this Sekirei trotted there and back like it was her backyard or something. Yet… if any were to have such a power, it would be my daughter without doubt. Yes, only she could be trusted with it. She knew what her power could do and she was careful with it. Still, perhaps it's time to start accelerating her absorption of Yaroslav's knowledge, never know where or when she'll need it.

I smiled at the memories, as we drifted in the ever familiar void, stroking my daughter's hair mentally. When I realized that by letting her absorb Yaroslav's legacy I was losing the last anchor that still bound my shard of a soul to her, I was quite…sad. It was yet another reminder that whatever I was, I was hardly human. Faced with the realization that what I did was killing me, I simply discarded it as unimportant. My purpose was to ensure that Yaroslav's proof of existence wasn't lost in the void that claimed the rest of him. As soon as I do that, this shard of his soul will join the rest of him where it belongs.

Still…I…I must admit, I was not against my daughter's feverish attempts to make me stay here, with her. She really could use some company, as terrible as mine was due to the constant blackouts I was beginning to suffer as my soul's grasp upon this world began to loosen. I won't lie, at first I thought Karasuba's company was terrible for my girl. But… as time passed, I began to realize that the murderous Black Sekirei was possibly the best thing that ever happened to my girl. Karasuba accepted her in her entirety. From her body to her wish, Karasuba merely accepted it and supported her faithful lieutenant.

I could rest in peace, knowing that the Black Sekirei would never let her go. Not without fighting tooth and nail, putting her very existence, her Tama on the line for her lover. Over time, my precious girl began to craft more and more bonds. From Karasuba's student, Haihane, to Benitsubasa who fought to be acknowledged and accepted by my daughter. Well, the petite pink haired girl certainly got what she wanted when the object she was sieging declared the tiny Sekirei as her young sister.

And then…then my beloved Sekirei found her Ashikabi, her destined person in this world, and gained her wings, surrounded by friends who became her family. It was at this point that I finally let myself relax and drift into sleep, waiting for the time when I'll be required once more. Leaving my darling child to her hard earned family, I slept, rebuilding and reinforcing my bond to the world. My persistent daughter found a way to keep my in this world by denying the transfer of Yaroslav's legacy to her. This, in turn, was preventing me from doing my duty but I had no other option but to look for a way to stay with her, even after my task is complete. She'd settle for no less, after all.

I had never expected to be jolted awake by the most horrific even possible, one that I didn't even dare to have nightmares of. I don't know how, neither do I know why, but her Tama was shattered. That 5 cm diameter sphere had another very important function aside from harvesting the energy radiated by the soul to perform world denying miracles. It was also a Soul Cage. So long as it was intact, no Sekirei truly died. The Tama could easily be implanted into another body, allowing the Sekirei to take it for their own so long as the Tama was intact.

And yet… my cherished daughter's Tama was shattered and she was rapidly fading into the Spiritual Realm, her bond to me dissolving. I…refused this. I denied it from happening! I willed myself to latch on and Pull. Where? I didn't particularly know nor cared, just somewhere away from the horrible afterlife the Spirit Realm of this world offered. I pulled her away from the world, away from the black hole in the dead skies above the Spirit Realm that devoured all of the souls of the dead. I pulled until I couldn't do anything but pull. Only when I felt my strength drop to practically 0 did I stop and allow myself a breather, wrapping myself protectively around the soul of my daughter. I didn't really care that the void was dissolving my essence again. So long as I used the shard of a soul I had left to prevent my dear child's soul from suffering from the caustic void, I didn't care.

Without doubt, soon even this thin shield around her will fail as I'll disappear into the endless darkness of this Gap between the Worlds, but until then… Until then I shall guard her and look for a way out. This Gap may be endless but it certainly wasn't empty. Provided I keep going, I'll eventually hit another world, another place for us to try again at. I cannot comprehend the agony my daughter will suffer when she'll realize that her family isn't here with her forever more, but at least she's alive. At least she'll live. And so long as she's alive… I know that my child is strong and she'll persevere.

All that's left is for me to shield her on this long journey as we seek a place for her to restart. A place that is hopefully better than the hellish nightmare that she was born in. True, her family made it passable, great even, but it didn't turn away the fact that her world was hardly a place I'd want my beloved daughter to live in. Granted, whoever said that the next world we'll find would be better? Still, one must hope for the best even if the preparations for the worst must be made.

As we traveled through the infinite darkness of the void, I was astonished to realize that the effects, those damnable caustic effects that washed out the soul and mind were… well, they were still there but strangely muted. As if something was holding them at bay mostly. Fascinating, what could possibly be… no…no way!

I turned my attention to the white orb that still glowed a strange deep, dark blue surrounded by my pale, wavering sphere of pale, nigh white, blue. My daughter is the Sekirei of Gates, the border being that can come and go to both Spirit and Living Realms at will. But… but is would seem that there is a little bit more to it than that. I know I am grasping at straws here, but that's the only explanation that makes sense. It's the only positive change that happened to me since the last time I was here. When I appeared here all these years ago, I felt like an ice cube in an ocean of warm water. Now…now the analogy would be that of an ice cube in an ocean that is only just above the freezing point. Still, as fascinating as this is, I can't do more than thank the Gods for it and move on, hoping that now we'll make it to another world for sure.

* * *

><p>It's been… how long has it been? Does it even matter anymore? Time…what possible use was time in the never-ending blackness of the Gap? Each world has their own time after all and there's an infinite amount of worlds in this infinite playground of Elder Gods and Creators.<p>

I felt faint hope raise its head as I felt another world before us. It was an odd feeling, sort of like feeling the air warm up gently as I traveled towards the world in question. I pray that this is the world we are looking for because I doubt I can make it to another…not after the last 3 fiascos. The first world we crashed into, as I didn't realize what that feeling meant until we crashed head on, was…hell. Thankfully, it wasn't literally hell but there was simply no way we'd ever stay in this Apocalyptic World. So this is what World War 3 looks like… Note to self, avoid worlds where WW3 is nigh. With effort, I pulled us out of that world, breaking through the pull that tried to keep the souls where they belonged.

The second world was a barren icy wasteland without an atmosphere and a black hole for a sun. I don't know what world this is, but we aren't staying. The third was far more interesting in that it was a lush, jungle planet…completely void of all sapient life. After seeing a couple extremely derelict ruins at the North and South Poles, I decided to avoid this world too. Whatever this place was, it would be terrible idea to reincarnate here.

As we traveled through the Gap, I noticed something that made me briefly pause in awe. My daughter's soul, a giant white ball several times that of what I remember Yaroslav's being, that glowed with a shaky and violent dark blue flame, began to stabilize. It began to compress and draw in its flames into the core, giving it a dull blue look. It was beginning to look like she was reforming her soul into a Tama. But that'd mean that my theory that Tama's are artificial cages designed to contain and draw power from Sekirei souls is bullshit! It would seem that a Tama is a natural state of a Sekirei soul! I was awestruck at how an incorporeal concept turned itself into a physical object that could be touched and could interact with the physical world.

The catch was that it was getting harder and harder for me to pull it along the endless Gap. A spirit such as me cannot interact with physical objects. It's only because the Tama hasn't finished forming that I could still drag my daughter's soul. But I was running out of time, whether the next world is right or not, I am afraid I'll have no choice but to use it.

I wanted to cry. But I couldn't, I had nothing to cry with. And using my imagination to picture myself crying was just not worth the effort. So close. So gods be damned close! The Tama finished forming just outside the inner perimeter of this world. It seemed like such a nice world too, plenty of souls wandering about around it, meaning it wasn't dead, and the warmth I felt from this world was far beyond any comparison with the other worlds we visited. I hovered uncertainly, still wrapped around the Tama of my daughter as a shield. I think a bit of scouting is in order, if I go fast, nothing should happen…I hope. I really need to see if this world is what we seek first and then I can plan something from there…

I know I said I'll think up of something. But honestly? I am at a loss. I couldn't move the Tama no matter what I did. I couldn't push it to the world before us, the world I believe is our second chance. The world itself was…strange. On one hand, we have humans – typical - on the other hand I saw monsters, both humanoid and not, wandering around, combated by haughty mages and zealous exorcists alike. Still, I believe this world is what we need…not that we have a choice in the matter anymore.

Distracted by my thoughts, I noticed another soul by my child's Tama far too late. Before I could so much as turn, the spirit touched the Tama…and shattered. As I watched, stunned, everything but a small inner core was drawn into the Tama while the core rippled and was transferred into something. It was sort of like a Gate to the Spirit Realm that my daughter opens but instead of going to the gray scale world, the core vanished into what looked like an impossible kaleidoscope of all colors and none. The Tama glowed once and then returned to its dormant state.

I would've blinked in stupor if I had a body. Considering the fact that I didn't, I instead had to settle with just the stupor part. I don't know what just happened, but did that soul just donate a portion of itself to make the Tama open a gate to…somewhere? What the hell is going on? Damn it, if only my daughter would awake from her coma already and tell me what just happened.

It was with some misgivings that I watched another soul approach my daughter's Tama. This would be the 5th one and I think I was beginning to figure out what was happening. These souls shattered on contact, feeding everything they had into the Tama, leaving only a pure, clean slate soul core behind which was then transferred somewhere by the Tama that used most of what the souls gave it to do the feat. However, more often than not, the souls gave much more than needed. Even now, only 4 souls later, I could sense a slight change in the Tama. It was beginning to lose its lacklustre appearance and was slowly brightening up. A far cry from what it should be, but I think a hundred or so souls should be enough to wake her… I hope.

This still leaves me with a question and a problem. The question is why didn't the Tama do the same thing to me as it does to all other souls that come in contact? What's different? Is it the fact that I am only a soul fragment or are the souls doing something I cannot see? Tch, more questions to ask my girl. But that's fairly easy; all I have to do is wait for her to wake up. Judging by the fairly constant trickle of souls she attracts it won't be that long.

The problem on the other hand was a lot more…problematic. How do I move her? We are almost there, so close…yet so far. I couldn't touch her anymore, let alone move her, it was just so frustrating! After all of this time and effort, to be stopped on the very edge… I wanted to destroy something as a feeling of hopelessness threatened to overwhelm me. What should I do? What could I do?

Nothing. I could do nothing but wait for the girl to wake up while I thought on this problem further…calmly. Panicking or losing hope right now would be the worst ideas. I had to keep calm, wait and think, that was the key to success. It's a pity that I can't take a deep breath to calm down due to the lack of a body though…

Once more I return to musings on time. How long have we been here? Seconds, hours, days, months, years, millennia… all of these units of time lose meaning when there's no baseline to start from. We could've been here for centuries or maybe seconds and I just can't tell the difference. I've decided to count by the souls that come to my Sekirei in order to leave this plane of existence. So far, we are almost reaching a 5 digit figure but my daughter still slumbers on. Her Tama turned into a miniature sun the size of a large ball….and that was it. Something was missing. Something that would let her awake.

I've been thinking hard on what it was for a while now, for about a couple thousand souls in fact. But I still didn't know what was missing. However, I have a feeling that I am missing something in my thought sessions. Something vital to the problem. Unbidden, a memory came to me…

"We give Sekirei numbers based on the order they wake up in. There's a little bit more to it than that but you don't really need to know it." Takami Sahashi said, smoking one of those cigarettes of hers. "Albeit you were among those first to be adjusted and pulled out of stasis, you woke up months, if not years after your group. For a while we feared that we screwed up something when we adjusted you."

This memory keeps popping up but I can't figure out what it has to do with this situation. At first I thought it was merely time, that she'll take longer to wake, that's all. But now, a couple thousand souls later, I think the answer is different. Why did she wake up so late? How was she different from other Sekirei?

And then the realization struck me with such force that if I could, I would've rolled on the floor, laughing hysterically. Who would've thought that the answer was literally here all along? Gods! I don't know if I am merely a blind fool or an imbecile for not realizing what sets my darling girl aside from the rest! How many other Sekirei I know that walk around with a shard of someone else's soul stuck to them? It was me who awoke her when I ended up in that world. I don't know why, but somehow I doubt that she'd have ever woken up if it wasn't for my shard jolting her awake.

Still mentally shaking my head at myself, I approached the Tama and hovered beside it, reaching out and trying to imagine myself shouting at my daughter inside to wake up. The Tama dimmed slightly and vibrated but otherwise did nothing. Frowning, I tried once more and once more, the Tama only vibrated to my touch. Pushing myself harder, I was surprised to see a chunk of me simply vanish, absorbed by the soul of my daughter. Her core began to vibrate more violently and…eagerly? As it hovered before me, I could feel something changing inside it as it assimilated that part of me.

I see. So that's how it is, huh? Looks like it's time for my story to finally end. It did get dragged out for far longer than I anticipated by my adored child who refused to part from me. But it seems that this is the end. I will finally make things as they should be. I'll have her finish absorbing me and not only will she finally completely hold all of Yaroslav's legacy, she'll also finally wake and be able to start again.

I smiled, happy that even in the hapless state, I was useful to my precious child. This may be my end, but is it not a parent's duty to sacrifice themselves for their children? Is it not our duty as men to ensure our loved ones live? I may not be a human anymore, nor am I really a person, but this dream was nice while it lasted. The Sekirei before me is not my daughter. I cannot have children after all. But…that's all irrelevant. I don't care about the technicalities. Ever since the first day I met the soul to whom the body I was stuck in belonged, I considered her to be my daughter. And for her to live I…

I'll do anything, I sent an image of myself saying that with a smile to the sphere before me even as I slowly began to drift into the Tama. It wouldn't do for her to absorb me too quickly and damage something now wouldn't it? As more and more of me began to fade into her Tama, I found conscious thought start to fracture and drift. I used my final moments to craft a…picture, my final message to the one being I value above anything and everything.

I sat on a bed of snow, an endless snow covered tundra all around us with misty, ever-distant mountain peaks a dream away. The cold winter sun shined from being light, fluffy snow clouds upon us, bathing the rare, large snowflakes that fell with soft light. To my momentary surprise, I ended up using Yaroslav's form in this dream. The tall, slim Russian young man with messy straw colored hair and piercing blue eyes, dressed in a wool sweater knitted by his loving mother in the colors of his country and dress pants with some very nice dress shoes. It was how Yaroslav dressed for his graduation, the last memory I had of him.

Lying right behind me was my daughter, just as I remember her; Tall and proud in that solid steel armour of hers with the Disciplinary Squad haori acting like a blanket beneath her. I smiled as I gently let my fingers brush through her short, spiky pale blue hair. She looked so peaceful now, sleeping with a faint smile on her lips from my touch. I prayed that this world treats her less harshly then the last one, or at the very least grants her a new family that would make it so much better… I prayed, for that is all I could do. I leaned over and kissed her forehead gently before pulling back slightly.

"Wake up, my precious daughter." I smiled sadly. "Wake up, Rei."

I crafted that message and then…

I faded.

* * *

><p>~Afterword~<p>

Ah, so strange to be done...Well, this part anyhow. Ofc, its no where near finished cause editing and what not, but truth be told...I think editing will kill my muse here. So instead, I'll plow onwards!

Note: Funny, but I predicted How Sekirei would end a year prior to it's ending. Mine just happens to be more epic I hope then the 7 or so panels the Origin has. Also...I've written the end (well, this chapter) a year and a half ago. Much to my amusement, it was still relevant now. Sorry for taking so long, I wanted to post this With the link to Sequel.

PS: No, this wasn't a weird SI.

Link to Sequel: s/11856845/1/Number-51-ReTry


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